Dewalt/FP gearbox "sticking" in reverse

[brandon.heller]

Hi,

My team is having a problem with a rotating Tetra-grabbing arm. We have a Dewalt/FP combo, standard as per the great white paper, driving a 4' arm through a ~23:1 ratio, in low gear at the drill clutch setting. The setup lifts a tetra just fine, but in reverse, the arm often sticks. It refuses to go down for a bit, but by pushing up, then down, on the control stick, it comes down. It also make a horrible clutch-grinding-type noise as it comes down.

-the problem happens only when a tetra is on the arm
-a swap to a different motor and drill combo had the same result
-it's not programming

We think it might be the dewalt clutch anti-backdrive pins getting stuck on the way down. We don't want to lose those pins, though - the arms stays in place, fully horizontal, while holding a tetra.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Brandon Heller
team 931 mentor / 449 alum