[Ri3D] Help BOOM DONE. order stuff

[geomapguy]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Mouser #571-42117-2 & 571-45204472

Did you guys ever replace any throughout the season?? or did they hold up pretty well.

[MichaelBick]

We prefer flat belt polycord because it's much quicker, faster, and lighter to make rollers. What we did last year is we got 1.25" OD 1.125" ID aluminum tube, and just cutoff at whatever length we needed. Bearings just press in and you can make hubs if needed. No need to groove either. You just wrap electrical tape where you want the polycord and the belt walks back into place if it ever moves. Also, it allows for a smaller gearbox ratio which further saves weight.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by MichaelBick

We prefer flat belt polycord because it's much quicker, faster, and lighter to make rollers. What we did last year is we got 1.25" OD 1.125" ID aluminum tube, and just cutoff at whatever length we needed. Bearings just press in and you can make hubs if needed. No need to groove either. You just wrap electrical tape where you want the polycord and the belt walks back into place if it ever moves. Also, it allows for a smaller gearbox ratio which further saves weight.

We have been looking into this as well. How do you go about welding it? We haven't had much success in our limited attempts.

Originally Posted by geomapguy

Did you guys ever replace any throughout the season?? or did they hold up pretty well.

No we didn't, we did have a few come undone because we didn't make the wires long enough or didn't strain relief properly.

[MichaelBick]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

We have been looking into this as well. How do you go about welding it? We haven't had much success in our limited attempts.

We ended up buying the expensive belt welder in 2012. Before that with circular belt we had made jigs. If you don't want to invest into the belt welder that is probably your best bet.

[DonRotolo]

Colored electrical tape or wire markers, to mark electrical components and wiring.

[magnets]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

We have been looking into this as well. How do you go about welding it? We haven't had much success in our limited attempts.

We've had success cutting the flat cord into 1/2" strips then modifying a soldering iron so that it has a metal 2" by 2" square sticking out the top. Then, we pushed the belt onto both sides until they began to melt, then slid the belt over the top of the plate, and held it together until cooled. Cheap, quick and easy.

[Billfred]

If you have (or rather, allow yourself) lathe access, my go-to roller setup is 1/2" hex stock and a couple bronze bushings. Just knock the flats off for the bushings, then put your rollers/sprockets/whatever on the hex shaft. The bushings can be dropped into any 1" piece of square tubing, allowing you to place them just about anywhere.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

We have been looking into this as well. How do you go about welding it? We haven't had much success in our limited attempts.

Cut it on a 45 (so the top down view is pointy), use a heat gun to get it nice and gooey, and then smush it together using a piece of angle to keep it straight. We spun it up irresponsibly fast (tachometer said 3000 RPM on 8" diameter wheels), and never had a failure. Urethane belting does make some really interesting shapes when centripetal acceleration starts pushing it away from the pulleys though.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Joe,
We have been using Power Poles for more than ten years. We have a modified battery drill with power poles coming out of the trigger switch. We can then power motors and reverse them easily with the drill without having to power the robot. Ham radio operators have adopted the Power Poles for DC wiring in the shack and mobile ops. There are several manufacturers who are making power distro using chassis mounted connectors. West Mountain Radio (http://www.westmountainradio.com/ the makers o f the CBA-IV) make a very nice ratcheting crimper. I recommend that teams place their controllers close to the motors they are driving so that you only have one connection between motor and controller. With the CIMs, they come with high temp wire so just add connector to the supplied wire. For drive wiring, we use #10 to maximize available current for these motors. Using these guideline, you can lose the blue and white wiring and stick with just the red/black. We buy zip cord in various sizes from MCM Electronics. (http://www.mcmelectronics.com/) To get #10 started into the Power Pole you may find it easier to spread the terminal a little. Once crimped you get a solid contact. We follow that with a little solder just to be sure. You remember when we lost to Beatty don't you? Wire pulled out of a crimp. You can have your EEs contact me for discussion if they want. The contact can take the current, it is just rated for continuous current and that makes it spec look bad. We are only using the contact for two minutes, not continuous. The heat rise during that time is negligible. They do need some method to keep them together. Tywrap to solid structure close to the connector or simply tywrap across the connector works fine. We also use screw 90 degree 1/4" tabs and female 1/4" crimp terminals to get in and out of controllers. We use uninsulated terminals with solder and heatshrink (see above reason). The tabs are available from Digikey in boxes of 100. Using these allows rapid change of defective components with only one tool, a pair of side cutters.
Al

[Andy Baker]

Joe,

This pair of Wago connectors is a good alternative for the Power Poles. This connector can handle up to 50 amps and requires no crimping. The form factor is bigger than the APP.

The same style of CAGE CLAMP wire connection as the PD Board has is on these connectors.

Andy

[Carolyn_Grace]

No robot is complete without graphics.

I suggest ordering stickers now.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Carolyn_Grace

No robot is complete without graphics.

I suggest ordering stickers now.

We started plotting our graphics on the school plotter. We laminate the sheets and then just tape them behind lexan. They don't get scratched up like stickers.

[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by Carolyn_Grace

No robot is complete without graphics.

I suggest ordering stickers now.

Great idea. We will print up something, maybe tape it to the back of a thin sheet of Polycarb.

[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

We started plotting our graphics on the school plotter. We laminate the sheets and then just tape them behind lexan. They don't get scratched up like stickers.

Protip: READ TO THE BOTTOM BEFORE REPLYING. My bad.

Ah well. A good suggestion is worth reading twice I suppose.

Joe J.

[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Joe,
We have been using Power Poles for more than ten years. We have a modified battery drill with power poles coming out of the trigger switch. We can then power motors and reverse them easily with the drill without having to power the robot. Ham radio operators have adopted the Power Poles for DC wiring in the shack and mobile ops. There are several manufacturers who are making power distro using chassis mounted connectors. West Mountain Radio (http://www.westmountainradio.com/ the makers o f the CBA-IV) make a very nice ratcheting crimper. I recommend that teams place their controllers close to the motors they are driving so that you only have one connection between motor and controller. With the CIMs, they come with high temp wire so just add connector to the supplied wire. For drive wiring, we use #10 to maximize available current for these motors. Using these guideline, you can lose the blue and white wiring and stick with just the red/black. We buy zip cord in various sizes from MCM Electronics. (http://www.mcmelectronics.com/) To get #10 started into the Power Pole you may find it easier to spread the terminal a little. Once crimped you get a solid contact. We follow that with a little solder just to be sure. You remember when we lost to Beatty don't you? Wire pulled out of a crimp. You can have your EEs contact me for discussion if they want. The contact can take the current, it is just rated for continuous current and that makes it spec look bad. We are only using the contact for two minutes, not continuous. The heat rise during that time is negligible. They do need some method to keep them together. Tywrap to solid structure close to the connector or simply tywrap across the connector works fine. We also use screw 90 degree 1/4" tabs and female 1/4" crimp terminals to get in and out of controllers. We use uninsulated terminals with solder and heatshrink (see above reason). The tabs are available from Digikey in boxes of 100. Using these allows rapid change of defective components with only one tool, a pair of side cutters.
Al

zip wire? I am not sure that my EE folks are okay with this idea.

Do a lot of teams use zip wire?

Joe J.