Toughbox Assembly

[thefro526]

I assembled both of our tough boxes yesterday in about an hour and a half with a lot of interruptions. I had no major problems what so ever assembling it. For the roll pins I got a metal hammer and put the shaft on a table with a hole in it. As i tapped in the pin the excess in the opposite side of the shaft went in the hole. Took about a minute. The hardest part for me was getting the gears on our Cims. The two from the kit of parts this year have a better keyway design than those from years previous. So when i put the key onto the shaft it was a bit hard but nothing to bad.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by thefro526

I assembled both of our tough boxes yesterday in about an hour and a half with a lot of interruptions. I had no major problems what so ever assembling it. For the roll pins I got a metal hammer and put the shaft on a table with a hole in it. As i tapped in the pin the excess in the opposite side of the shaft went in the hole. Took about a minute. The hardest part for me was getting the gears on our Cims. The two from the kit of parts this year have a better keyway design than those from years previous. So when i put the key onto the shaft it was a bit hard but nothing to bad.

We did something similar. The chassis was done first, but the tranny guys had to go find some grease. (For a quick fix for the lack thereof, we found some old FP gearboxes--those have more grease than you can shake a stick at--I'd say at least enough for five or six Toughboxes and the FP will still run well.)

[cjtenny]

Although I was at a track meet and didn't get to see, supposedly our gearboxes are properly put together. However, the team wants epoxy, now, since the bearings apparently keep falling out. Unusual? Anybody else run into this?

[Coach Norm]

Is any team going to mount their Toughboxes with the KOP chassis turned upside down? We are considering this option to get lower to the ground for lower center of gravity. I have looked thru the post but cannot find any information concerning this option. We are a Rookie team and will take any advice. We are concerned about removing parts of the chassis and losing the integrity and strength of the chassis.

We have difficulty with the roll pins. We went thru all four and had to go to Harbor Freight to buy new ones. They are put together now and we ran a practice test this past weekend on the KOP chassis.

[Elgin Clock]

How loud are these supposed to be while running?

While I don't expect everything to be "whisper quiet" one of our more experienced mechanical mentors noted how loud it was while under power with a single CIM, and commented that things may be pressing against each other making things louder than they "should be" from his experience.

Then again, I'm sure the sound resonance of making one gearbox side out of a lexan type material also turned the normal noise from it running it into a speaker box pretty much. (As opposed to it being made out of cast aluminum or some other cast type material that is better at sound and vibration dampening).

We're certainly not going to be taking a decibel meter to the gearbox, but just wondering how loud it should be???

Originally Posted by Justin M.

I never had this many problems with kit gearboxes, ever...

You apparently didn't get the "joy" () of using the Banebots last year then did you? The pins were too small and just fell out under normal conditions...
That sucked... repeatedly over the course of the season, for many many teams.

[Kyle Love]

Originally Posted by cjtenny

Although I was at a track meet and didn't get to see, supposedly our gearboxes are properly put together. However, the team wants epoxy, now, since the bearings apparently keep falling out. Unusual? Anybody else run into this?

NEVER use epoxy to hold the bearings in, that may seep into the bearing and cease it.

[Justin M.]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

You apparently didn't get the "joy" () of using the Banebots last year then did you? The pins were too small and just fell out under normal conditions...
That sucked... repeatedly over the course of the season, for many many teams.

We had 4 BaneBots gearboxes last year. Assembly was a breeze, and we never had to touch them once after mounting. They went through the whole season of competition and PARCX without a single problem.

I heard some teams had problems with them, I guess we just got lucky then.

[Sunshine]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

How loud are these supposed to be while running?

While I don't expect everything to be "whisper quiet" one of our more experienced mechanical mentors noted how loud it was while under power with a single CIM, and commented that things may be pressing against each other making things louder than they "should be" from his experience.

I'm there with you. Every time we turn the SIMS on while attached to the Toughbox, I stop in my tracks. They sound terrible and I keep saying that something just isn't right. Last night I commented that I hope they have a lot of extras at the competitions.

[Alan Anderson]

If the bearings want to fall out, they've probably been put in from the wrong side.

If the gearbox is extremely noisy, it's possible that one of the gears has been installed upside down and the gear is not being held away from the bearing by the tiny "bump" around the center hole.

If the gear tooth sensor mounting holes either put the sensor too far out from the gear or require long standoffs to reach the gear, it sounds like the lexan plate might be flipped 180 degrees from its proper orientation.

[Elgin Clock]

A quick comment.
Be careful when tightening the screws holding the lexan cover on. Cracking will most likely occur. I believe we are going to replace the lexan cover with an aluminum one because of seeing this phenomenon already in the lexan plate.


And a quick question to all:
Anyone have any troubles with the largest gear in the toughbox rubbing against the top of the 2nd washer stacked on the shaft of the CIM motor output shaft under it's spur gear when assembled?

We seem to be having some rubbing issues.. so we intend to pursue that at a later day.