pic: Swerve again, for fun

[Aren_Hill]

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So when my poem said a new swerve from Aren Hill, it wasn't kidding!

Looks great! What is it geared for? I can't tell from the section view, but it looks like it's cutting close on the clearance for the wheel. Do you know off hand the amount of clearance it is?

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

...would rather avoid mercury on the robot (sliprings).

Are there not suitable sliprings for this application which contain no mercury?

[Bryce2471]

A few questions immediately pop up for me:
How is the CIM shaft so short? Isn't it against last year's rules to modify motors?
Where would you get the bevel gears, and how much would they cost?
What's the weight?

Other than that, it looks very good.

[JesseK]

From the cut-out in the other picture, I'm having a hard time figuring out how the large turning gear is mated to the grey-ish ring that acts as the weight-bearing thrust bearing for for the entire robot. It seems like all of the robot's weight is hanging from this ring which is hanging from the gear?

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Ether

Are there not suitable sliprings for this application which contain no mercury?

A few years back I found it very difficult/impossible to find a non-Mercotac COTS slip ring that was simultaneously (a) rated for FRC current levels and (b) within single-components COTS cost limits. It is possible that you could make your own spring-loaded slip ring, but YMMV with inspectors/rules in a given season.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

A few years back I found it very difficult/impossible to find a non-Mercotac COTS slip ring that was simultaneously (a) rated for FRC current levels and (b) within single-components COTS cost limits. It is possible that you could make your own spring-loaded slip ring, but YMMV with inspectors/rules in a given season.

It is possible (now), I don't have the link handy but they do exist. It's for use in wind turbines so it's actually got three wires. I've also found a few on various websites that are rated for 30A continuous.

The Mercotac ones are far lighter though.

[orangemoore]

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

This was purely for fun, not a VEXpro item, sorry ;-)

Why can't it be?

[tim-tim]

Originally Posted by Bryce2471

How is the CIM shaft so short? Isn't it against last year's rules to modify motors?

By that definition, wouldn't it be illegal to cut/strip CIM motor wires to add connectors of your choice on the ends?

[Thad House]

Originally Posted by tim-tim

By that definition, wouldn't it be illegal to cut/strip CIM motor wires to add connectors of your choice on the ends?

R30 specifically allows wiring, mounting brackets and output shafts to be modified. That rule has been there for years, so I would assume it would stay.

[Kevin Ainsworth]

It has to be the most compact and lightest swerve to date!
Professional grade designing, I looked through the entire design earlier this year and thought it was brilliant. We tried to design something totally unique but nothing we came up with was as elegant. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Bryce2471]

Originally Posted by Kevin Ainsworth

It has to be the most compact and lightest swerve to date!

What makes you say that? Do you know the weight?

[Bennett548]

Is the weight of the robot sitting on the cim pinion? I can't figure out the wheel pivot bushing/bearing for this design.

Edit: I see the button heads now. Is that a silverthin bearing?

[nuclearnerd]

It's compact for sure, but I can't figure out the bearing design.

As far as I can tell, all of the vertical loads are taken by the CIM shaft (!), and I can't really tell what takes the horizontal loads. There's an upper steering bearing on the CIM shaft, but the only lower bearing I can see is the white ring below the steering gear and that doesn't have much radial contact. What am I missing?

[asid61]

Originally Posted by Bryce2471

What makes you say that? Do you know the weight?

+1. I have a swerve design exactly like this on my computer, except with a 2" colson instead of a 3.25" versawheel, ad it weighs a minimum of 5.3lbs. Still heavier than Bryce's swerve, albeit only very slightly.
Plus, making it into a shifting version requires a lot of weight unless you don't use a COTS shifter shaft.

EDIT: Of course, if anybody could make the design lighter it would be Aren. So it could be lighter actually.

Very nice swerve Aren. It's cool seeing your drives. Are you using a dead axle? Is it possible to flip the cim?