soo our team is planning on a forklift design and we’ve had this sort of debate over how to design it (yeah we’re still in the designing phase )
my idea was to use the igus DryLin N slide system to make the side portions of the forklift
another person is arguing for using the DryLin S (the kind with a pole) with the linear bearing on it
Anybody have any suggestions/input on how/what we should do about it? I’ve never seen a real life forklift with the pole and the linear bearings but my teammate keeps suggesting it. Both of us argue that both systems have weaknesses (the structure of the slide system can bend since its open on one side sorta and the geometric structure of the pole is cylindrical, resulting in a shape thats not as suitable if force is applied on the side)
i would VERY much appreciate anybody’s idea as well as other alternatives that me and my teammate havent thought of.
also, i was wondering if the igus Y.E.S. program will give us products that were not included in that goodie bag in the KoP such as the DryLin N80 (a larger version of the slide that we got) or the DryLin W
Yes the IGUS YES program will work with you on this!!!
We are going to do the same thing.
Our elevator is going to use an aluminum ladder cut into sections to provide the structure and IGUS linear bearings.
Good luck on your design.
The IGUS staff is really nice about this. They will help you with whatever you need. Take a look at their online catalog.
If you have any other questions please let us know…
We used Drylin N Igus slides for our forklift last year. Worked decently, we did have some issues with the plastic sleeves on the carriages cracking. The major reason for this was that our rigging wasn’t evenly tensioned between the two sides, so the lift would tilt to one side as it went up. Additionally they way we contstructed it made it a pain to get in there to replace the carriages, you’ll definitely want to take that into account in your design as well.
We’re doing a similar forklift design this year, correcting some of the mistakes we made last year. We decided to go with some MUCH beefier slides (Drylin W – MUCH MUCH heavier though), we’re also using cascade rigging over continuous, and pulling the lift down as well as up. We’re also using a pneumatic to actuate the whole thing rather than a motor because it simplifies the system a lot. We’re only using our arm (the poker as we call it) to knock balls off the overpass at the beginning and end of matches, so we’ll have plenty of time to recharge our accumulators during the match.
It works great for a frame or something stationary. But we had a lousy time lifting the weight last year for our arm and it was all 80/20. That stuff gets pretty heavy so beware.
Hey guys, our team is incorporating a forklift design into our robot. We are unsure of what material to use, since 80/20 might be too heavy and will cause us to tip over. We need to support the ball and a rather large manipulator, which would potentially require a strong and sturdy elevation system. Has anyone used any material in the past that has been effective and fast? Thanks in advance.
Aluminum tubing works well. However it does have a major obstacle to overcome. As with all aluminum, you must overcome the fact that it likes to gum up when being rubbed up against itself. You would have to design some sort of system to make them roll properly. Perhaps someone else has a better suggestion, but this is just something that I would look into until they do. It might really work well for you. Also, lubrication will not make up for the gumming up of the aluminum.
when we get it together we’ll let you know, as of now we only have a one stage ladder for prototyping purposes, but we hooked up a few pneumatic cylinders and they were able to move it reasonably well with the ball at as low as 10-20psi, i don’t know if thats any indication
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