Motorized IRI Trophy

[rsisk]

Eh, typical FIRST team, take something awesome and make it even better.

Well done.

[mman1506]

Cool! I have a 12V trickle charge solar panel laying around if you want to make it "green".

[techhelpbb]

Very neat.

Consider a microwave turntable motor. No battery or charger.
Just check the AC voltage to the motor first.
Some are 120VAC and some are around 20VAC.
Use a fuse of suitable rating.

[donkehote]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

Very neat.

Consider a microwave turntable motor. No battery or charger.
Just check the AC voltage to the motor first.
Some are 120VAC and some are around 20VAC.
Use a fuse of suitable rating.

the microwave turntable motor sounds neat, but since we bought new chargers this year, we had the old ones just sitting around collecting dust, and the old old window motors with the 12 tooth (i think its 12) pinion that aren't legal anymore were just collecting dust too. the battery is one that is 3 years old and doesn't hold charge well. its really just there to trick the smart charger into charging. re using old parts is fun!

had to make one modification. since window motors arent meant to run constantly, it did get quite hot after an hour of continuous running. we added some of the old victor fans that were also sitting in a cabinet unused, and plan to add a couple active surplus random heat sinks to the motor casing. with the fans, the temperature stabilized, but it was still hotter than i would like. the plan is for this trophy to sit spinning away in the display case for a long period of time. need to do some longevity testing of these window motors, see how long one lasts running constantly. i figure it might make it for 3 months or so, but im not 100% sure.

Also forgot to add a 20 amp snap action breaker to the list.

[orangemoore]

I wouldn't trust window motors. This year we used them for our climbing and for the small amount of time they were used we could have cooked eggs on them.

[donkehote]

Originally Posted by orangemoore

I wouldn't trust window motors. This year we used them for our climbing and for the small amount of time they were used we could have cooked eggs on them.

ive actually had a lot of experience with window motors. being a car mechanic, i know how and why they fail, and have rebuilt several types, including all the ones provided in the kit since 2006. they are only supposed to run for max 30 seconds, and will get hot if under load for any longer. with the fans, we tested the trophy for almost 2 hours, and although the motors were hot, you could hold your hand on them. 2 small heatsinks stuck on with thermal paste should help keeping the motor nice and cool.
i hope that the window motors weren't your only source of climb power, that would be quite an impressive feat.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by orangemoore

I wouldn't trust window motors. This year we used them for our climbing and for the small amount of time they were used we could have cooked eggs on them.

They'll get really hot really quickly if you're putting a huge load on them, such as a 120 pound robot (or a giant PVC arm), but just spinning a frisbee, there isn't much load to be concerned with.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I think this is the best display of an IRI trophy I have ever seen. Congratulations!