Uses of CIMS and associated reductions

[EricH]

330 has run:

CIM through custom spur gear setup to run a 4-bar in 2003. Not sure of reduction, but fairly large.
Big CIM powering a shooter wheel in 2006. Smallish reduction.
CIM-powered leadscrew in 2010 for lifting the robot off the floor.

[Johnny]

I personally think this thread would be more interesting with motors that have more power i.e banebots or fisher price motors(which are the best motors ever imo).

2013: cim with custom 4:1 gearbox for polycord rollers/frisbee intake
2012: cim with custom 4:1 gearbox for polycord rollers/ball intake mechanism
2009: cim with custom 3:1 gearbox for polycord rollers/orbit ball intake; cim with custom 2:1 gearbox for ball dumper

all single stage

The same problem occurs with every reduction calculation...how much? Figuring this problem out, at least in our case, was relatively easy because we used the motor in similar applications, which took out most of the guess work.

Sidenote: Ask this same question with fisher price motors instead of cims. That's where the real creativity in design will come into play because the available power in those motors. CIMS are already pretty fat motors for our applications.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Johnny

I personally think this thread would be more interesting with motors that have more power i.e banebots or fisher price motors(which are the best motors ever imo).

You do realize that the CIM is the most powerful (and robust) motor in the kit, right? the FP and RS-550 aren't even that close. The CIM's peak mechanical power is 337 watts compared to 245 watts for the RS-550. The "2011 FP" is the closest at 289 watts but it was only legal for two years.

The thread is a little empty mainly because 4 CIMs has usually been the limit and most teams throw them all in the drivetrain.

[AdamHeard]

To save money, we try to only use COTS gears in our CIM boxes. We use COTS gears so we can find a .step file for them, and save money by 3d printing them for free.