No CIM Motor in 2006?

[coreyjon]

"Part of the fun of this competition is taking motors designed to lift RV's and open van doors and make them lift tetras and move robots. I love the 'do what you can with what you've got' mentality that FIRST forces us think with." - Andy A.

I agree, That is what makes this more challenging, and more exciting. I too enjoy the "Macgyver" aspect of FIRST. I can tell you like the FP's, I think of the FP's as the party motor, they are kinda like mini smoke generators. I'll admit, they are light, and depending on what your asking of thoose motors, they may burn out if you stall them for just a short while. Those CIM's on the other hand are very robust, and it takes a lot of abuse to kill them.

[Pballer829]

The chips better stay... I mean come on, you could probably power a Ford escort with like 6-8 of 'em. And there needs to be less of a power gap between the motors, cuz right now the next most powerful motor is the FP. i forgot the exact output, but the output difference was somthing like 320-somthing to 60-somthing.

[Steve W]

The hips are made for FIRST. They are cheap and reliable. They may change the specs a bit to keep us on our toes but they are here to stay (for now).

[Validius]

Personally, i love the FP's They are great for just about everything. I would like to see 12 volt FPs though. 6 volts just isn't enough.

HOWEVER. better then all of that would be a 24 volt system. current is not your friend. low heat, high torque=we all win. I would love to see somthing that deals with sand. it would be quite a challange that most teams have never seen. Perhaps we should have a year where there is alot of manuvering and not much lifting. i would LOVE to see some hovorbots.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Validius

Personally, i love the FP's They are great for just about everything. I would like to see 12 volt FPs though. 6 volts just isn't enough.

We run our 6V FPs at a full 12V and have not yet had a problem (not even warm) because we use each in conjunction with two FPs. The 6V motors work just fine for us. But that's not really the point I'm going to make here.

The thing with the FPs though about being "great for just about everything" is that they aren't. The gearbox that comes with them is all plastic. While this may be good for weight, it isn't for durability. So, lets talk just about the motor. The motor packs a lot of punch in a very small size. This leads to the problem of overheating (when not used like we used them). Also, it spins at a very fast ~20,000 rpm. This requires another stage of reduction compared to match the Chiaphua. Also, the FP is fairly small and fragile. The shaft is only 1/8" where the Chia is over 5/16" Also, the power tabs bend and break off. Also, the internal fan blades are very fragile and they break off. Also, the motor can is not fully sealed so debris can fall inside.

Also, I don't think two FPs would be adequately capable of driving a robot where 2 Chias would.

Aside from weight and size, I cannot see any advantages to the FP over the Chia.

The Chia is a hefty industrial motor that serves us well. I hope it is here to stay.

[slickguy2007]

Is their any reason to believe that we are not going to be able to use 4 cim's again? We are allowed to use 4 cim's on the base, is their reason to believe that they won't allow that anymore?


GO 1403!!!

[NoodleKnight]

Maybe drill motors are gonna make a comeback. I wouldn't mind =) -- even if the cim's are less finicky, the drill motors packed a lot of power in a fairly small package and could tolerate some abuse (more than the FP's, at least).

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Steve W

The hips are made for FIRST. They are cheap and reliable. They may change the specs a bit to keep us on our toes but they are here to stay (for now).

Oh? You know something that the rest of us don't?

-dave