Shooter Help for 2nd Year Team

[cmrnpizzo14]

Good luck at SVR, if there is a webcast I will watch you guys!

Try not to get too discouraged, being a 2nd year team is often world's better than a rookie but there is still a lot to learn. Know what your strengths are and what you can do to help the alliance. While you are at SVR, there will be a ton of great teams there. Try and make time to go talk to 254, 233, 118, 148, 846, or 973 (sorry if I forgot anyone, put yourself down if you want to be on the list!) they will definitely be able to help you guys develop as a program.

Good luck!

[philso]

You may want to have a look at the following thread started by my good friend Allen Gregory of Team 3847, especially post #16 where he describes how to make a 1:1 VersaPlanetary gearbox.

www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111360&highlight=small+wheel+shoo ter


The gearbox will take the side loads off the motor shaft preventing premature wear/failure. We originally had a single wheel mounted directly on the shaft of a Mini-CIM. After about 20-30 shots (some with extreme compression), the rear bearing of the motor was worn into an oval and the motor armature dragged on the inside of the magnets. Since we did not want to wait for another motor, we ended up changing to RS550's with a CIM-ULATOR gearbox that I had left over from the previous year. The CIM-ULATOR also took the side loads off the motors.

[Chris is me]

Side loads were not a problem for us this year direct driving off of CIMs and mini-CIMs with a very similar shooter. As long as your compression isn't insane (10.5 inches from tip of wheel to side wall is what we used) there shouldn't be any problems.

One tip I would give you guys to get a more accurate shot that curves less. It looks like your shots hook right, away from your wheels. We found this curve was a result of the frisbee being compressed but not constrained properly. The edge of the frisbee closest to the wheels was allowed to rise up, and thus discs left the shooter in a crooked manner. If you have some kind of physical guard (e.g. a piece of low friction plastic) mounted right above the shooter wheels to prevent this "popping", you may get a more consistent shot.

[team4384]

The channel opposite to the wheels doesn't seem to have any friction, the frisbee will slip, loose energy and not fly far enough. Consider taping friction tape or at least soft sided velcro to the inside of the channel opposite to the wheels. This grip the frisbee and the fast spinning wheels will generate spin and push the frisbee out.

You can get 3M friction tape (cloth electrical tape) at home depot for about $4 or so.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by team4384

The channel opposite to the wheels doesn't seem to have any friction, the frisbee will slip, loose energy and not fly far enough. Consider taping friction tape or at least soft sided velcro to the inside of the channel opposite to the wheels.

They already did that. Ya gotta read the whole thread:

Originally Posted by Thorne

We also increased our compression and added some foam insulation tape for friction, which helped a lot.

[savagecreature]

Originally Posted by cmrnpizzo14

Good luck at SVR, if there is a webcast I will watch you guys!

Try not to get too discouraged, being a 2nd year team is often world's better than a rookie but there is still a lot to learn. Know what your strengths are and what you can do to help the alliance. While you are at SVR, there will be a ton of great teams there. Try and make time to go talk to 254, 233, 118, 148, 846, or 973 (sorry if I forgot anyone, put yourself down if you want to be on the list!) they will definitely be able to help you guys develop as a program.

Good luck!

Thanks so much! I will pass this along to the team.