pic: Winch-atize me, Cap'n!!

[Chris Hapstack]

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[Chris Hapstack]

The overall shape of the gearbox is a little funky – kind of an “L” shape. That’s because the drum of the winch needed to fit down between the drive gearboxes near the center of our robot. There was no room for the 775s there, so we used the gear spacing to move the motors out and up to where there’s more room.

Here’s a video of the winch running (sorry for the vertical orientation – I was caught up in the excitement of the moment): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95u0-QNm7u4

[theawesome1730]

What is the material of the white plastic looking gears? Curious why you guys went with those.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by theawesome1730

What is the material of the white plastic looking gears? Curious why you guys went with those.

They appear to be from a Fisher Price Powerwheels gearbox, which was a staple of the FRC KoP for many seasons. Pretty sure they are nylon.

[Chris Hapstack]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

They appear to be from a Fisher Price Powerwheels gearbox, which was a staple of the FRC KoP for many seasons. Pretty sure they are nylon.

They are indeed from a Fisher Price gearbox! Mainly used them because they were lying around, and because they're so light. The first couple iterations of our winch used VersaPlanetaries, but with all VP stuff now out of stock, the only way we were going to get the reduction we wanted in the weight we had to spare was though a custom gearbox. This weighs just about 4 pounds, motors included.

[NShep98]

Originally Posted by Chris Hapstack

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This is what our climber would look like if it worked consistently.

[trumpthero786]

Looks very well built! I love custom gearboxes like this. I'd also love to see the rachet and pawl. It sounds better than using a socket wrench Thanks for sharing this!

[Gabeman6007]

Looking nice. Can't wait to see it in action at the Michigan championship.

[Chris Hapstack]

Originally Posted by trumpthero786

Looks very well built! I love custom gearboxes like this. I'd also love to see the rachet and pawl. It sounds better than using a socket wrench Thanks for sharing this!

No problem! Here's the ratchet attached to 60-tooth gear. Big thanks to our sponsor Lakeshore Cutting Solutions in Zeeland who waterjet cut this for us.

http://i.imgur.com/BVaQa2e.jpg

[Chris Hapstack]

A couple more pictures:

Gearbox plates shown with two copies of the ratchet and pawl (why not have an extra just in case?): http://i.imgur.com/JpiDqYV.jpg

Gearbox structure assembled: http://i.imgur.com/oZToaec.jpg

[trumpthero786]

Originally Posted by Chris Hapstack

No problem! Here's the ratchet attached to 60-tooth gear. Big thanks to our sponsor Lakeshore Cutting Solutions in Zeeland who waterjet cut this for us.

http://i.imgur.com/BVaQa2e.jpg

Ah cool. I see it now in the original picture too. Looks awesome.

[pilleya]

Looks great, there is some serious lifting torque produced in that gearbox. Planning on lifting the other alliance members? According to the JVN calc it could lift 3 150lb robots in under 4 seconds

[Chris Hapstack]

Originally Posted by Chris Hapstack

The first couple iterations of our winch used VersaPlanetaries, but with all VP stuff now out of stock, the only way we were going to get the reduction we wanted in the weight we had to spare was though a custom gearbox.

I should clarify here - the first couple iterations were designed but not built. When we finally got some free time to start building a climber, all the VP stuff had gone out of stock, forcing the redesign.

[Chris Hapstack]

Originally Posted by pilleya

Looks great, there is some serious lifting torque produced in that gearbox. Planning on lifting the other alliance members? According to the JVN calc it could lift 3 150lb robots in under 4 seconds

Thanks!

The stall load is theoretically right around 1000 pounds, but I think we'll stick to just lifting ourselves so we can keep the current draw at a manageable level haha. Right now we're looking at about 15 amps per motor under the expected load.

Here are the exact numbers if anyone is interested (eternal thanks to JVN):
http://i.imgur.com/kmWySyK.png

(And always obey the curve: http://motors.vex.com/bb-775)

[Fusion_Clint]

Nice, I love the design.

I highly suggest steel gears for the final stage, we were using the vexpro gears and broke several teeth during the Bayou Regional which is the reason we were not able to hang during the quarter finals.

Our stall torque was just slightly higher than your calculated,