Ideas for Ball Shifter?

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

The initial reduction on the vexpro ballshifters is because their first stage is barely a reduction (they are just driving one of the pinions for the next).

This makes the package a lot slimmer. If you were to split the gears (similar to the WCP dog shifter) and put the first reduction between them (or not split them and put the first reduction in front or behind them), you'd be able to fit a full reduction.

I've been hoping for a while that Vex/WCP will make a DS style ball shifter with 3 CIMs like you're describing. You could likely fit 3 CIMs around the cluster shaft, because you'd have more space for the gear the CIMs go around because there's no dog. That way, you could get a 3 CIM shifter with only two stages, which would make your gearbox a lot more efficient (and probably more compact and lighter) compared to a VP Ball Shifter with a 3rd stage. I'd guess the majority of teams would prefer to have the option of a more efficient gearbox that could do direct drive over a gearbox that was smaller, but needed an additional reduction before the wheels.

On the other hand, I can see why Vex wouldn't want to self compete, and the existing DS is already pretty good. I just see an opportunity for improvement.