Team 4564's Tape Measure Climber

[Connor McBride]

Awesome job on the climber! Cant wait to see it in action at Pinetree.

[Japper]

Nice job guys!

There was a team at the Northern Lights that made a nice 3d printed tape measure climber but was not allowed to use it. Not sure why not but I think it was team 4656 Rock Solid.

I would like to know more about this climber and why that team was not allowed to use it because it looked like a really nice climber solution.

Also, I am curious if anyone did any strength tests and how much weight this type of climber would lift.

thanks

[Drew4564]

Originally Posted by Japper

Nice job guys!

There was a team at the Northern Lights that made a nice 3d printed tape measure climber but was not allowed to use it. Not sure why not but I think it was team 4656 Rock Solid.

I would like to know more about this climber and why that team was not allowed to use it because it looked like a really nice climber solution.

Also, I am curious if anyone did any strength tests and how much weight this type of climber would lift.

thanks

Thanks! I'm also curious why the team wasn't allowed to use their tape measure climber. If anyone has any more information, I'd like to know!

I put together a build guide/showcase of sorts for our climber system that features better pictures and some detailed descriptions. Here's a link to it.

Concerning how much weight a tape measure climber can lift, I think it can vary greatly based on the situation. I've seen numbers ranging from about 125 pounds to upwards of 300 pounds for the tensile strength of a heavy-duty tape measure. I think the real issues arise at the points in the tape measure where things are attached, as holes/cuts can greatly decrease the tensile strength. Also, creases can have a huge impact - we badly creased one of our tapes during prototyping, and it never really worked afterwards. Luckily, my team has had no issues with strength, and the robot has spent a considerable amount of time hanging from the tower

[Japper]

Thanks Drew, You are awesome for sharing!

Now if we can just find out why team 4656 couldn't use theirs...

[dominik.daners]

Originally Posted by Drew4564

Thanks! I'm also curious why the team wasn't allowed to use their tape measure climber. If anyone has any more information, I'd like to know!

I put together a build guide/showcase of sorts for our climber system that features better pictures and some detailed descriptions. Here's a link to it.

Concerning how much weight a tape measure climber can lift, I think it can vary greatly based on the situation. I've seen numbers ranging from about 125 pounds to upwards of 300 pounds for the tensile strength of a heavy-duty tape measure. I think the real issues arise at the points in the tape measure where things are attached, as holes/cuts can greatly decrease the tensile strength. Also, creases can have a huge impact - we badly creased one of our tapes during prototyping, and it never really worked afterwards. Luckily, my team has had no issues with strength, and the robot has spent a considerable amount of time hanging from the tower

Thanks heaps for this, however we may not have time to assemble something like this (shipping to Australia is hard) given we have comp next week. However this will likley become a project for worlds (if we make it) or the off season event later in the year.
Good luck at your comp!

[bmammen]

[quote=Drew4564;1552810]Thanks! I'm also curious why the team wasn't allowed to use their tape measure climber. If anyone has any more information, I'd like to know!

I put together a build guide/showcase of sorts for our climber system that features better pictures and some detailed descriptions. Here's a link to it.


Great job! We've been struggling with something similar for a couple of weeks now. You wouldn't happen to have an STL file for the 3D printed housing? That's the most important piece to us at the moment as our tape seems to bunch up while extending.

[CJ_Elliott]

Originally Posted by Japper

Nice job guys!

There was a team at the Northern Lights that made a nice 3d printed tape measure climber but was not allowed to use it. Not sure why not but I think it was team 4656 Rock Solid.

I would like to know more about this climber and why that team was not allowed to use it because it looked like a really nice climber solution.

Also, I am curious if anyone did any strength tests and how much weight this type of climber would lift.

thanks

I had talked with one of the students on 4656 and the reason that they couldn't use their climber is because when they climbed their robot turned sideways and they ended up outside of the 15 inch extension rule.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by bmammen

Great job! We've been struggling with something similar for a couple of weeks now. You wouldn't happen to have an STL file for the 3D printed housing? That's the most important piece to us at the moment as our tape seems to bunch up while extending.

Not having the housing likely isn't your problem. The key to getting one of these lift to work is to pull the tape out with a second wheel, like the black stealth wheel they have. When extending, that wheel is trying to pull the tape out slightly faster or at the same speed as the spool is unspooling it.

57 has hit on a slightly different option, but it might be unique to our setup. We have a green banebots wheel that's pushing directly against the spool. This puts enough pressure on the tape that friction can transfer force from the bottom layer to the top layer and actually push out the top layer. We're still finalizing things, so I don't know exactly how reliable it will be, but that's what we've come up with.

[Drew4564]

[quote=bmammen;1557583]

Originally Posted by Drew4564

Great job! We've been struggling with something similar for a couple of weeks now. You wouldn't happen to have an STL file for the 3D printed housing? That's the most important piece to us at the moment as our tape seems to bunch up while extending.

I do have the files you're looking for! PM me your email and I'll be more than happy to send them to you.

Like Mr. Sevcik said, it's crucial to the design that there is a second wheel actively trying to pull the tape measure out.

On a somewhat related note, if anyone saw our performance at WPI, you likely saw that the tape measure climber gave us more trouble than it was worth. It was more difficult than expected to lower the tapes onto the bar after they were extended, as we repeatedly lowered the arms to far, breaking the tapes backwards. We're going to try to add some type of telescoping support, and will add to the build guide if we hit on any particularly good ideas. Suggestions are also more than welcome!

[bmammen]

[quote=Drew4564;1557622]

Originally Posted by bmammen

I do have the files you're looking for! PM me your email and I'll be more than happy to send them to you.

Like Mr. Sevcik said, it's crucial to the design that there is a second wheel actively trying to pull the tape measure out.

On a somewhat related note, if anyone saw our performance at WPI, you likely saw that the tape measure climber gave us more trouble than it was worth. It was more difficult than expected to lower the tapes onto the bar after they were extended, as we repeatedly lowered the arms to far, breaking the tapes backwards. We're going to try to add some type of telescoping support, and will add to the build guide if we hit on any particularly good ideas. Suggestions are also more than welcome!

Thanks! Sent you a PM

[hillale]

Team 3617 pulled off a tape measure climber this year as well. Not the best view of the lift in action, but check out the left hand tower starting at 2:05 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTcdz8sOPGI

We nicknamed the lift mechanism "Major Tom" in honor of David Bowie.

[Maria S]

I worked on a tape measure climber this weekend but it never ended up working the way the way we wanted. Congrats on yours!

[cwebb0223]

3130 has a tape measure climber as well but I can't seem to upload the video, seems like you will have to wait until Thursday/Friday to see it! (However, it is on the front of our robot unlike many of the other tape measure climbers I see)