6WD?

[Alex Cormier]

Is there any way to get 6 motors (direct drive to 6 wheels) to get programmed and all?

I added a motor to each wheel and wondering what i can do.

[Francis-134]

Assuming you are using easyC, could control it with tank drive by placing the "tank four motor block" and adding two "Motor Module RX" blocks for the fifth and sixth motors. All you have to do is make sure you assign one to the left and one to the right joystick.

Although I have no robot to test this idea on with me, one could possibly make a six-wheel arcade work by using the "arcade four motor" AND an "arcade 2 motor" in the same program. If you feel luck, maybe you could give it a try .

Oh, and of course, make sure its all in a while loop (I've made that mistake about 50 times).

[irishninja]

You could have a four wheel and a two wheel arcade/tank running on the same channels.

[Alex Cormier]

Also i have no money to purchase the programming kit. Talking to others it sounds pretty impossible to do what i see with out the kit.

[syraweb]

Four motors can be used to drive 6 wheels - either through a gear train or sprockets and chains. For the spring 2005 demo competition, the easyC programming system was not available yet, so our team built a 6WD robot in that way. It worked well with the default code. Check the photos and diagrams on our website - http://eaglevex.syraweb.org/TeamActivities13.htm.

[foobert]

if you can find a radio shack that still has one, you can probably pick up a programming kit for $50. failing that how about making up a pwm y cable to feed the signal from a single port to two motors.

[skimoose]

Be careful using pwm wye cables to drive two motors. The vex motor ports are only rated for one amp. The programming kits are on sale again, through June 3, for $49.99 many stores still have them in stock.

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by syraweb

Four motors can be used to drive 6 wheels - either through a gear train or sprockets and chains. For the spring 2005 demo competition, the easyC programming system was not available yet, so our team built a 6WD robot in that way. It worked well with the default code. Check the photos and diagrams on our website - http://eaglevex.syraweb.org/TeamActivities13.htm.

WOW! Thanks a lot for that!

Now here comes the big question, what did yo need to make that? On the Vex Lab site is shows that you need like 1 starter kit, 1 wheel kit and so on for the specific bots they make.

I do have the kit, wheel kit, gear kit, chain kit. no metal kit or programming kit yet.

Also, how did you lower the center motor/wheel?

I am very interested in making this on my own!

[foobert]

Originally Posted by skimoose

Be careful using pwm wye cables to drive two motors. The vex motor ports are only rated for one amp. The programming kits are on sale again, through June 3, for $49.99 many stores still have them in stock.

so, how about you just share signal and ground, but pull power off of one of the free motor ports.

[skimoose]

Originally Posted by foobert

so, how about you just share signal and ground, but pull power off of one of the free motor ports.

Yes that should work if you want to modify some pwm cables. Without knowing exactly how the motor ports are output. I'd check with Ricky Torrence at vexlabs just to make sure.

[skimoose]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

WOW! Thanks a lot for that!

Also, how did you lower the center motor/wheel?

I am very interested in making this on my own!

If you're using the long angle rails in the starter kit for your frame, the holes are elongated just enough to give you about 1/8" offset if you keep the outer wheels tight to the top of the slot and keep the center drive tight to the bottom of the slots. If you want more offset use a combination of flat bearings and the "pillow block" style block bearing.

[gdo]

nice bot, I think I could help out if you wanted

I added you in AIM hope to talk with you there

[foobert]

Originally Posted by skimoose

Yes that should work if you want to modify some pwm cables. Without knowing exactly how the motor ports are output. I'd check with Ricky Torrence at vexlabs just to make sure.

you've got signal next to the labels, (white wire), 7.6v in the middle, (orange wire), and ground out at the edge, (black wire). use jameco 157382CK 3 pin housing with 157382CK female pins and 145357CK male pins. the housings aren't polarized, but the worst you can do is swap signal and ground.

[ICE MAN]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

Is there any way to get 6 motors (direct drive to 6 wheels) to get programmed and all?

I added a motor to each wheel and wondering what i can do.

Now are you talking FRC or vex? if you are talking about first then you can use as many speed controllers as you need just as long as you don't exceed the $8000 budget, but there might be some rule about the maximum amount of victors that are allowed though I have never heard of it. If you are talking about vex, well then I know nothing to in depth, but I did hear a complaint about how many available inputs to the vex controller. if there is a limited amount of inputs for the vex controller then you might have to cut down on the number of motors/applications you are trying to use. you might be able to control two motors through one input, but I have no clue how to do this. Hope this helps.

[b-rant]

i just built a six wheel drive with just two servos and it's pretty strong (it climbed onto a 3 ft. table at a 45 degree angle) but anyway i might post a picture of it tomarrow when i'm working on it in class i need to attach an arm to pick up a tennis ball so we'll see how that goes