Crab drive question

[RaMoore]

Originally Posted by Cory

Have you used those shafts in the past? The first is 2024, which is probably OK. The second is 6061, and I would almost guarantee that it will fail if used in such a high load application. Especially at 3/8" diameter. I'd recommend 2024, 7075, or 7068 for shaft applications. 2024 is the most commonly available (and cheapest).

This was our first year to try crab and that is the shaft material we used, we didn't have any problems, but then again I wouldn't say the robot experienced any real competition level stresses... it's funny when all the mentors are EEs but the wiring turns out to be the problem.

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

We always find ourselves reminding teams that they shouldn't dedicate themselves to a particular drive system this far in advance of the kickoff.

It's really nice to be able to have different drives depending on the game, but newer teams or ones with limited resources should consider picking a drive and building it preseason as practice and staying with that frame and drive for a few years until they are more established. Switching drives to match the game can be very resource intensive, and it also seems that for most any game any drive system will allow teams to still score and not having the reinvent the drive means they can spend more time on other aspects like manipulator. (I wish someone had told me this when starting out...)