pic: what do you think?

[FotoPlasma]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

Presumably, the output is the rightmost shaft? How do the three center gears interface with the output shaft?

The largest gear on the center shaft is always meshed with the long faced gear on the output shaft. When it's in the extreme position, it acts as an idler gear between the input and output gears.

From what our team found out from using a multiposition actuator, this seems like a very plausible design. The problem of a smaller volume of air taking less time to fill a smaller pneumatic piston can be remedied using flow control valves, but that's an implementation problem, rather than design.