Hello Chief Delphi I have a question. My team is currenting looking into creating a elevator system that is fast, reliable and is cascading. We have looked and 461’s system and also into a rack and pinion system, the idea with this system is that the first stage will be powered by a motor moving with the firsts stage running a long a rack system, we do not know how reliable or easy this idea will be but we also do not know how to rig a cascading multiple stage system so any pictures, CAD or drawing of how rigging can be done would be greatly appreciated as well as some feedback about the rack and pinion system.
1 Like
We used a cascading elevator last year, employing t-slot extrusion and slides from 80/20. We also used a rack and pinion system for our climbing mechanism (essentially four single-stage elevators.) I would not recommend the second type for any elevator that needs to be more than single stage and have a limited extension. It worked very well for lifting the robot 19" off the floor, but many of the limitations that did not cause problems for that would be very evident in a taller elevator. The big one would be weight, but there are also alignment and stability questions that don’t produce issues at a relatively small scale but would at larger scales.
Our actual elevator, however, worked beautifully. Here’s a link to an older post where I included extensive pictures of it, including of how it is rigged (which is a very traditional cascade rigging system.) This kind of cascade rigging will work on just about any elevator structural system you choose to use, so don’t feel like you’re confined to the extrusion system we used. If you have any questions, feel free to message me and I’ll try to answer quickly.
1 Like
We ran a two stage cascading elevator this year, so maybe some pictures of our setup can help you out.
For powering the first stage, we machined a block that attaches to the first stage tube and connects to the chain from the elevator gearbox and brake-box and is held in place by small bolts. This chain run goes up to a free spinning sprocket that is a part of the superstructure. Here, we included the tensioning system for the chain run.
Here is the chain run:
Here is where the chain run goes to:
The second stage (carriage) rigging went like this:
If you’re also interested in continuous rigging, I can help a little there as well.
Hopefully this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions!
4 Likes
Our team ran a cascading elevator in two ways. 2019’s performed much better than 2018, although it was surprising how well 2018’s worked.
2018: We ran two pieces of 80/20 vertically and then (as a closed rectangle shape), we bolted it together with ribs. Then, with spacers we made a small 80/20 carriage inside the second stage. From there, we bolted more spacers to the two other stages, and ran Kevlar through them, which lead back to a winch system, in which we used a RedLine motor- I forget the gear ratio. To glide among the 80/20, we used these spacers made out of UHMW, and would maintain them with grease.
2019: we designed one similar to WCP Greyt Universal Elevator combined with the generic andymark one. We ran 2x1 chassis to create one stage and then a second inside of that one as well ( we cut the top of the first one open) - in that we ran a 2x1 carriage, which bolted to our arm C-Bracket.
A problem we noticed with this is that bearing kits can be very heavy.. So we ended up machining our own, and designing them with distinguishing features of where they go. We used steel rivets for all fasteners, in separate corner brackets of aluminum.
We drove it with a NEO motor, with the SPARK nearby. We had a 50:1 gear ratio through a versa-planetary gearbox. To articulate, we ran chain around, and bolted about three links to a bracket on the bottom of the second stage (you can see in the picture).
The advantage of these ones were that it was very smooth and fast (you can see in 2539 match videos), and it was easy to program. It does require constant maintenance, and isn’t as strong as our previous one however.
All in all, for cascading elevators, I’d use bearing kits and chain. Typically, our priorities for an elevator are speed and handling/responsiveness. It can be simple chain, or complex movement like 118 Flyby.
Here was a picture of our 2019 one:
If you’d like dimensions or where we got parts or any other questions let me know. Hope that helps, and good luck!
1 Like
This video from 973 is what i used to learn what a cascading elevator was and is very helpful
4 Likes
*973
But regardless a great video that we heavily used last season!
oh right, whoops!
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.