NeveRest 60 in FRC

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by EricDrost

We've tried a lot of solutions to the D-shaft/set screw issue, a lot of which had slipping issues we couldn't solve. The most effective solution we found that still used the NeverRest gearheads was mounting these to the D-Shafts, then drilling through hex adaptor and the D-shaft and tapping to 4-40. About 90-95% of the D-shafts were hardened steel and required a carbide drill bit, 5-10% were mild steel. Before we settled on this solution, we lost ~5 motors in one season because a set screw would round out part of the D-shaft.

I never knew about these adapters, but I'm impressed! (The true low-buck method is to take churro tubing, hacksaw one end about an inch down, jam it in place, and then use a shaft collar to clamp. Worked well enough to get through Fight Night for a few of us.)

My recommendation to any team using these motors in FRC (or FTC) is to remove the gearhead/buy the version without the gearhead. As others have said, these motors integrate very well into VersaPlanetary gearboxes. We put 2 of our 8 NeverRest motors into VP gearheads last season and experienced zero failures with them. This season we have put every single motor on the robot into a VP and have had zero failures so far.

TL;DR: The motors are pretty good but replace the gearhead for serious use.

To achieve a 63:1 reduction with a VersaPlanetary costs $84.95 ($89.95 if you want 1/2" hex)--base stage, two ring gears, 7:1 and 9:1 stages. That buys you six NeveRest 60 gearheads (and most of the 7th), which also tucks into a smaller space (shorter, and the diameter is basically that of the motor itself). If you have means to protect against shock loads in the design, the packaging and budget advantages of the stock gearhead may be attractive to you.

(And at the risk of being a broken record, FIRST has still not announced whether removing or changing the gearhead is an approved modification.)

Sent from my desk at AndyMark