Burning the FP's

[SteveO]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Steve,
I am guessing that the FP motor and tranny is for turning the top arm, is that correct? If so, I am also guessing that you have not accounted for the friction at the turning point. With an 8 lb tetra at the end, the turning friction must be enormous. You may need to put a heavy duty bearing at that point to reduce the friction. I would be careful as you troubleshoot as some teams have reported stressing the FP gearbox to the breaking point. You might also consider some counter weight of some type to balance the load at the top of the arm. Springs or surgical tubing works well in these apps. Pictures would help a great deal.

Yeah I will definitely get some pictures tomorrow to post. We have bearings on all those joints; I know the picture I provided is not very helpful. It doesn't seem like its binding anywhere, the system makes for a lot of losses though. The top arm is the one we are attempting to swing, yes. I apologize for the poor grammar and overall laziness


EDIT: Oh I forgot to mention we aren't cantilevering it out there, we have bearings and pillow blocks, I will really try to get some pics up here asap. I also forgot to mention the gears did grind a bit at first because the box was not held tightly enough together (if that makes sense, sorry I'm tired and can't think too clearly right now ) so we used a couple of wood screws to hold it together. We know we probably fried the motor, but were hoping our buds over at 988 or 989 will help us out if we decide to go with the FP's