paper: 4 CIM versus 6 CIM theoretical calculations

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by MrRiedemanJACC

So I'm a dumb Mechanical Engineer and last year we had a 3 Cim per side shifting drivetrain with tracks. Obviously we could have swapped out a Cim for a Minicim to help out with shooter power and other items. (we didn't and maybe should have). But let me ask this question, How does a Cim plus 2 Minicim drivetrain compare to a 2 cim (per side) in tank drive? Assuming the rules are similar this year with open availability of other motors, would it make sense to keep the 4 cim motors for whatever gamepiece needs there are? (oh and I know I'm asking for everyone to predict the future!)

While 1C+2m would certainly have better performance than a 2 CIM drive train, that performance gain is offset by a greater weight and volume, both of motors and of the gearbox - 3 motor gearboxes usually have a higher center of gravity or more gears than a 2 motor gearbox (or both). There's also the matter of another motor controller. There are certainly cases where this would be better, but I expect they're less common than the configurations already discussed.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

While 1C+2m would certainly have better performance than a 2 CIM drive train, that performance gain is offset by a greater weight and volume, both of motors and of the gearbox - 3 motor gearboxes usually have a higher center of gravity or more gears than a 2 motor gearbox (or both). There's also the matter of another motor controller. There are certainly cases where this would be better, but I expect they're less common than the configurations already discussed.

I'll second this, it certainly wouldn't be the first choice for motor configurations IMO. In general there's rarely a need to use more than 2 CIMs outside of the drive system anyways, so the number of instances you would actually need to swap out to a 1CIM+2MiniCIM should be minimal (short of maybe saving a little weight if you already have a 2CIM+1MiniCIM drive and desperately needed to loose around 1lb)