pic: Team 1511 Prototype Drivebase Mk. II

[Arpan]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

Pneumatic cylinders directly acting on a plate with a short throw will be fine, no reason to over complicate it with a linkage.

Our brake last year was 3x 1" pancake cylinders all attached to a 20x14 plate covered in rough top. Worked great without ever bending the rod on a cylinder.

I will say that you should consider pancake cylinders instead of regular ones from a packaging standpoint they are much nicer for this kind of application.

I'd still use some kind of linkage. It doesn't add that much complexity, and for something where the failure mode is being stuck for the rest of the match, you want a lot of safety.