New AndyMark Shifters!

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Finally! I love the idea of a servo shifter, and it's great that more people will get to see why I love them now! Say good by to your heavy pneumatics! Its a 10 Dollar upgrade that is money well spent (It's marked currently for $340)

Andy and Mark, what do you see as the disadvantages and advantages of the Servo shifter over the Gen. 2 Pneumatic Shifters?


Difficult question aside, great work! I can't wait to see them on a 2007 Water Game robot! (Are the gearboxes available waterproofed yet?)

gears won't care if theyre running underwater... the electronics will

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by T. Hoffman

8 hours operating time x (60 minutes per hour) x (60 seconds per minute) x (1 shift per 10 seconds) = 2880 shifts.

48 matches per season (worst case guess) * 20 shifts per match (again worst case guess) = 960 shifts.

Your match estimate is pretty low if a team attends multiple off-season competitions.
25 played 50 matches through Regionals and Championship (but that's counting 7 Newton elim matches, and 5 Einstein matches), and attended PARC, Monty, and IRI (and still has Brunswick Eruption). They probably have played around 85-90+ matches. But they represent a very small portion of teams.
20 shifts per match is probably a little high though (116 would typically only shift around 4 or 5 times a match, at most, when we used a 2 speed). So, your estimate probably isn't that far off.

[thefro526]

the new transmissions look great and look as if they'd be easier to use

Mecanum wheels+ (4) 2 speed transmissions..........

[dubious elise]

I can't even lie, the sight of them absolutely made my day!

[techtiger1]

AndyMark does it again, you guys are the epitome of what engineers should be about, redesigning and perfection of a system/product. I also have to totally agree what Eliese said above seeing those things made my day indeed. Looks amazing, servo shifting and I am sure function even better then they look. Nice job to the whole AndyMark crew. Keep making SHIFT happen guys .

-Drew

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

Yes, we will have one ready. It's just not on the site yet. The tricky part to converting from pneumatic to servo shift would be swapping out the small "shift shaft" that is connected to the dog gear by a 3/32"x1" roll pin. If you're good at removing that roll pin, then it will be easy.

Andy B.

Andy,

We have a spare Gen 1 AM Shifter sitting on the shelf. Will the "servo shift upgrade kit" work with the gen 1 shifter? If so what is in the "upgrade kit" and when will they be available for ordering?

[Gabe]

Their single speed transmissions are slightly different, too.
Check them out here:
http://andymark.biz/am-gearbox.htm

[efoote868]

Originally Posted by thefro526

Mecanum wheels+ (4) 2 speed transmissions..........

= very heavy, and difficult to control. 1 second variation in shifting times is alot, and the change in wheel speeds would make your robot go 'crazy'

besides, Mecanum wheels don't get enough traction to need a low gear

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by efoote868

= very heavy, and difficult to control. 1 second variation in shifting times is alot, and the change in wheel speeds would make your robot go 'crazy'

besides, Mecanum wheels don't get enough traction to need a low gear

Let's just shoot down ideas and prevent innovation.

With the exception of the 1 second shift times, this idea isn't bad.

If faster shifters were used this wouldn't be a problem. A mecanum drive with a medium speed, and a really fast one would be a huge boost to mobility. Alhough current games seem to require pushing power and traction, none of us have any idea what next years game may be. Because of this, any idea right now can't be ruled out...

//end off topic

These shifters are nice innovation. Even with the 1 second shift time they could be very useful. Imagine the game next year requires moving very large heavy goals (I vaguely remember that for some reason....) and no defense. Then a high speed to drive around, and a low speed to move goals would be nice and the 1 second shift time wouldn't really have any negative effects.

[VEN]

Hey Guys. I have a question. I won't post a new thread though.

Is this gearbox the same dimensions as the FRC gearbox in the previous years (2005, 2006) and we made longer shafts for our FRC gearboxes which mount the same as the stock ones. How are the main shafts on these gearboxes? How are they different, if different from the ones on the FRC one?

Thanks


oops, I just saw there are sprockets, I wonder how that can work with out setup.
edit #2: I get how to hook it up now, but my other questions still stand

THANKS

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by VEN

Hey Guys. I have a question. I won't post a new thread though.

Is this gearbox the same dimensions as the FRC gearbox in the previous years (2005, 2006) and we made longer shafts for our FRC gearboxes which mount the same as the stock ones. How are the main shafts on these gearboxes? How are they different, if different from the ones on the FRC one?

It's a smaller gearbox, but has the same gear ratios (12.75:1). You can run either a:

• FIRST kit CIM Motor (1 or 2)
• AM Planetary gearbox (1 or 2)
• or combination of above motors

The Output shafts on these gearboxes are the same as the old kit gearboxes (0.5" Keyed) and the only difference real you would notice as a user, is that it isn't a cast aluminum box which doesn't take as much space up.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

It's a smaller gearbox, but has the same gear ratios (12.75:1). You can run either a:

• FIRST kit CIM Motor (1 or 2)
• AM Planetary gearbox (1 or 2)
• or combination of above motors

The Output shafts on these gearboxes are the same as the old kit gearboxes (0.5" Keyed) and the only difference real you would notice as a user, is that it isn't a cast aluminum box which doesn't take as much space up.

Actually, the gear ratio is 12.75:1--and the output shafts are different (the old KOP unit was some metric figure close to, but not exactly, 5/8").

[EricLeifermann]

Yeah it is a cool design!

We came up with the same thing last year with our own modifications using the AndyMark transmissions. Servo shifting really helps with these transmissions.

[VEN]

Sorry Guys, I was talking abotu AM servo shifter GEN 2

[rustlerharv]

I designed and built servo shifters for the trannys last year with a hack saw and a drill press. Andy offered to buy the design at the Wisconsin regional but it looks like he developed his own. My design was a direct replacement for the pneumatic cylinder which would require no changing of anything.