Need help creating a winch and pulley system to pull a component up the robot

[lcoreyl]

Originally Posted by anthonygraff24

We are planning to use a winch and pulley system to pull a component up our robot. We have a pulley and some cable and we're trying to figure out how to make a small winch. We're not sure what to use as a "Spool" for the winch. We've thought of using a pneumatic wheel without the tire or the plastic mounting things used for the robot wheels. Are there any other good ideas of things to use as a spool for this purpose? Any ideas/pictures would be appreciated.

One thing to keep in mind is how the radius of the spool affects your other design choices. If you can fit a larger spool on your bot, you can avoid winding difficulties; however, your motor+gearbox and brake will have to handle more torque.