Balls getting stuck in hopper

[FTtyler]

We are having trouble with ball getting stuck at the bottom of our hopper.
Does anybody have any ideas?

[Safarley2901]

Originally Posted by FTtyler

We are having trouble with ball getting stuck at the bottom of our hopper.
Does anybody have any ideas?

How are we going to know what your hopper looks like. You shoul.d at least post a picture.

[CarpeDiem]

try using an agitator to move the balls at the floor of the hopper.

[Starke]

I'm guessing that you are using a gravity feed hopper. one thing that we have found is that no matter how you plan for it, the balls will get stuck. i suggest a agitator mechanism that keeps the balls moving and will not let them get stuck. something as simple as a turning lazy susan that allows the balls to continue to move around.

[Anime-niac_2.9]

Originally Posted by Safarley2901

How are we going to know what your hopper looks like. You shoul.d at least post a picture.

I have to agree. We can't read minds, especially through computers. if you can't post a picture you should at least tell us what kind of hopper you have.How did your team design this?

[FlyingDutchman]

my team is having the same problem you are but we are or were using a funnel type loader but then went to a square track with rounded edges.

[Rick TYler]

Having played with models of several approaches, the one that works best is to use a single-ball channel of some kind: either ramps or a spiral. In Top Gun the balls never have a chance to jam. During their short stay in the robot the balls are always lined up on tracks, either dropping via gravity or rising on pressure belts. If you don't ever let balls get side-by-side, you won't ever have to worry about them jamming up.

In bulk material operations, stirring mechanisms are sometimes used to prevent granular stuff from plugging up chutes and outlets. We didn't go this route so I don't have anything to add from experience, but it seems to me that a short "stir stick" attached to the F-P motor with its low-speed, high-torque transmission intact might be just the thing. If you are using pneumatics, a short piston pushing upwards on a "thing" might jostle the balls when they jam.

[AV_guy007]

i would sugest a agitator of some sort sorta like an electirc paint bALL hoper

[Anime-niac_2.9]

Launching jammed balls = (possibly) robot spewing confetti all over the arena.

You should be careful about this. If the ball ends up jamming and they jam inside then launch them with, say, a pitching mech then this may happen. Most likely your team will be flagged for it and run the risk of being disqualified. That is, of course, bad and will mean that in the end you designed and built for six full weeks, sacrificing sleep completely to get this project done, and it fails.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!!

[Not2B]

And if an Agitator would work, but you don't have room for a motor and arm, you could add a "shake and shimmy" button. Drive the drive forward and backward a few times quickly and shake the whole robot.

It goes without saying... loktite would be a good idea if this is the route you take.

But - please post a picture.

[Cody Carey]

maybe this is illegal... but what if you mount your compressor to the hopper? even if you aren't running a complete pneumatics system... it would surely keep the hopper vibrating

[Anime-niac_2.9]

I am not sure either, but I am sure that you could at least mount the copmressor next to the hopper. I am sure that the hopper won't virbrate as much, but maybe just enough. Enough is dependant on your design. Its all about design. don't tell me it's strategy because that is very dependable on design.

[Gdeaver]

This is the belt fed, magazine, revolver debate. Our team is going with the revolver. We have a basket with a paint stirrer type paddle that sweeps the balls to a hole in the bottom of a basket. they then drop into the firing mech. By it's design the balls get jostled. Feeding the balls is proving a little challenging unless a team is going for a all at once 10 shot autonomous strategy.

[Anime-niac_2.9]

Good call to jostle the balls. If they were just left to allow gravity to do all the work you may not be loading at all. THAT WOULD CERTAINLY SUCK.

#include<stdio.h>intmain(){intloop=0;printf("Good Job");for(loop=0;loop==76;loop++){}return 0;}

[shimarikakari]

If your team uses a gravity-based hopper the way ours does, I would recommend a spiral, since it's completely passive and you won't have to add any more motor weight. If you find that a spiral alone doesn't help, though, then you might want to add an agitator. I have to say I like the idea of mounting the compressor on the hopper - and I went and searched through the rules (starting on page 20 of The Robot), which said nothing about mounting pneumatics except that you have to use the preexisting threads. Since I assume you don't plan to drill any new holes in your compressor, that would be a great idea.