TechnoKats 2-speed gearbox

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

i have the .step files that andy baker gave me before the season started this year. with his permision i will host them for download. also just a note to teams attemptin this gearbox the designs that are out in the whitepapers and the cad models are the un-tweeked versions, the gearbox won;t work right just built to spec, meaning that you still need to do some work to get it to work. this stuff just has to do with moving some holes and fraction of an inch adjustments. i'll drop andy an e-mail asking him if i can post the files.

Originally Posted by Cory

Inventor tells me it will work properly. I modeled it exactly as in the whitepaper, and fully constrained it, and I did not receive any errors, so I'm not sure what holes need moving, as you referred to.

Cory

Greg,

If you can host these files for download, that would be great. STEP (.stp) files are solid, dumb models that can be imported into UG, ProE, Inventor, and other CAD programs. Thank you for hosting this and for asking.

Cory,

That is cool that yours went together without a hitch. It always worried me that people would find many errors. There were a couple in the documentation, but not too many in the models and details.

All,

I've talked to some people about this, but I have not said anything on these forums... and it is about time that I make an announcement:

Myself and another long-time TechnoKat engineer, Mark Koors, are creating a "side business" of making and selling standard mechanical assemblies. Our main focus will be to sell these assemblies, at reasonable prices, to FIRST teams. While we both still are working at Delphi, we are creating this company called AndyMark. We plan on selling these standard assemblies initially:

• AM Shifter, a dual speed, shift-on-the-fly gearbox w/ 2.56:1 reduction, ready to mount 2 CIM motors
• AM Reducer, a 3:1 planetary reduction gearbox for Bosch drill or FP motors that mounts just like a CIM motor (can be mounted to the AM shifter)
• 8" Trick Wheel: simple omni-wheels with 1.25" plastic (or urethane as an option) rollers

Currently, we are getting quotes for fabrication and purchased parts. All of these designs have been proven in the past. The shifting gearbox and planetary gearbox were used on the TechnoKat robot in 2004, while the omni-wheel design has been around for a few years (although this is a simpler version).

Keep in mind that these will be "standard, off-the-shelf" assemblies. Our aim is to provide FIRST teams (and others) with a service while creating a business for ourselves. We are trying to use the advantage of buying and making parts in large quantities to keep costs down, but we have not determined our selling prices yet. Imagine buying one (or more) of these assemblies for almost the same amount of money it would take to make it, but you would have it during week 1 (or before).

Of course, we will be looking for customers. PM me if you are interested. We have a website in development (well, to be developed), and I will have marketing materials soon.

Andy B.

[Ben Lauer]

That is awesome; I hope teams take advantage of this great opportunity.

I especially love the name, very creative.

[Greg Needel]

http://home.comcast.net/~tarbell/bakergearbox.zip


there you go....remember these are solid models so you have many different options with these files. the assembly is a solid model assemby so you won;t be able to modify anything ( great for placement in a full robot cad) and the individual parts are all to spec so if you wanted a working assemby with transisions and constraints you would open all the indivual parts and put them together. also included are the parts you will have to buy or come in the kit. hope this helps some people out. let me know if anything doesn't work

Greg

[ebenhopwil]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

http://home.comcast.net/~tarbell/bakergearbox.zip


there you go....remember these are solid models so you have many different options with these files. the assembly is a solid model assemby so you won;t be able to modify anything ( great for placement in a full robot cad) and the individual parts are all to spec so if you wanted a working assemby with transisions and constraints you would open all the indivual parts and put them together. also included are the parts you will have to buy or come in the kit. hope this helps some people out. let me know if anything doesn't work

Greg

Thanks a lot. I'll try it out.

[ebenhopwil]

hmm... just tried it. got the following error:

bad CRC f47c01e0 (should be e972790d)

basically winZip can't seem to extract it.

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by ebenhopwil

hmm... just tried it. got the following error:

bad CRC f47c01e0 (should be e972790d)

basically winZip can't seem to extract it.

did you extract all of the files before you opened them

also you will need to open inventor and inport the files because the "open with" feature doesn;t work with this


try those solutions and if they don;t work i will probably post the files unzipped

[ebenhopwil]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

did you extract all of the files before you opened them

also you will need to open inventor and inport the files because the "open with" feature doesn;t work with this


try those solutions and if they don;t work i will probably post the files unzipped

yeah. I tried to extract all the files into a folder first, and winZip kept giving me errors.

[Clark Gilbert]

I also tried it and recieved the CSC error. Something is messed up w/ the assembly folder.

[Greg Needel]

try this

http://home.comcast.net/~tarbell/gearbox.htm



right click and download each file individually

[NotQuiteFree]

We used this exact gearbox on our robot this year. Wonderful design, and the machining and assembly went off without a hitch. Actually, a couple of students, myself included, are designing a gearbox for next year, and I have all the documentation for this one on my computer. I keep using it as a reference, as I have never done this before. It is an easy design to understand, and very efficient. If you were at the PNW regional, you know the torque and speed it provided us. Also, the whitepaper is excellent.

[Gary Dillard]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

We plan on selling these standard assemblies initially:

• AM Shifter, a dual speed, shift-on-the-fly gearbox w/ 2.56:1 reduction, ready to mount 2 CIM motors
• AM Reducer, a 3:1 planetary reduction gearbox for Bosch drill or FP motors that mounts just like a CIM motor (can be mounted to the AM shifter)

Andy B.

How much are you hedging the venture on FIRST keeping the rules and the KOP the same? It seems like every year that we've tried to do some upfront design work on a gearbox FIRST changed something - like the year you could only use gears from small parts, and the addition of the CIM one year and the bigger drill motor the next - such that we had to go back to the drawing board after kickoff. I'd hate to see you invest alot and have them insert a "no aluminum plate" rule or something like that. Conversely, my hope is that FIRST would recognize these readily available assemblies that the whole community can use and design the kit/rules around them, giving the rookie teams more of a head start (like they've done with the pre-fabbed drive trains). Have you had any discussions along those lines?