How to do a Forklift type robot.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by cobrawanabe1699

Careful with the weight of a forlift. That's alot of aluminum on the front of your bot. See my post in the contact patch thread.

Depends how you made it. Our elevator last year was not cg biased towards the front.

[cobrawanabe1699]

Contact Area and its Relation to Friction? It's under technical discussions, and not too far way from this thread. I'm on page 2 or 3

[bobdahaxor]

I saw the binding post, and yes it can bind. There is a rule of thumb though, each extension should go 1/2 of the previous. Like if you stationary bar is say 5 feet, then the second bar should extend only 2.5 to 3 feet. This will prevent binding. Our team used 8020 last year for our arm. It worked well, but you gotta follow that rule! Also use a CIM motor or Van door motor. Nothing else has enough torque to do the job in my experience. (Burnt up a geared down mabuchi. Poof!)

[EricH]

Originally Posted by bobdahaxor

I saw the binding post, and yes it can bind. There is a rule of thumb though, each extension should go 1/2 of the previous. Like if you stationary bar is say 5 feet, then the second bar should extend only 2.5 to 3 feet. This will prevent binding. Our team used 8020 last year for our arm. It worked well, but you gotta follow that rule! Also use a CIM motor or Van door motor. Nothing else has enough torque to do the job in my experience. (Burnt up a geared down mabuchi. Poof!)

You can also rig to pull down. And the FPs have plenty of torque using their stock gearbox and no further reduction other than a winch. Been there, done that, didn't burn up the FP.

[jferrara]

Hey guys, our team is incorporating a forklift design into our robot. We are unsure of what material to use, since 80/20 might be too heavy and will cause us to tip over. We need to support the ball and a rather large manipulator, which would potentially require a strong and sturdy elevation system. Has anyone used any material in the past that has been effective and fast? Thanks in advance.