Hi, my team is trying to add what seems like a Line or some sort of Tube, into a CIM motor, we found one like this already but we don’t know how to add it to another motor plus the one we wound is already opened and I personally don’t trust it, sorry for my little knowledge on the topic but I am Programming trying to help my team out. Appreciate any help. Best regards.
Sure we can help!
On fist glance the photo you shared looks like a cim with a hex adapter and the cover pulled off.
Cims are pretty common, so if you have extra I would probably grab a different one too.
Now, what is the purpose of this line or tube? What are you trying to accomplish? Is it possible to share a diagram, sketch or picture of what the goal is?
The following is speculation:
Are you trying to cool the cim with air from a compressor? It the overall goal a cooler motor?
Thanks for the reply.
We are trying to build part of our shooter with CIM motors, since they are the only ones we have to spare, our original idea was using 4 NEO Motors but one of the is missing its gear box and we have been unable to find it so we are decided to use 2 NEOs and 2 CIM, here is a image of the shooter cad without the wheels and motors, we are using wheels to launch our note and we need the hex adataper (thanks for telling me the name) to mount the wheels and onto our shooter.
Ok. Gotcha.
So in this case “tube” refers to the structure the morors are attached to?
The easy/ Good news: all the motor outputs are 8mm keyed so they will all use the same style pulleys, gears, or adaptors.
I am going to ask one more question before I try to help more:
2 neos and 2 cims is a LOT of power for a shooter. Why so many?
Normally you would add a flywheel (lots of ways to do this) for something that is shooting a heavy ball/ lots of balls.
(Because it’s the off season and “we wanted to try” is an acceptable answer, but knowing the reason or goals does help with the community support/advice)
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Well a bit of context, I joined my team last year and 2024 was my first competition, this time is my first offseason, I am from programming but I am the most interested member and turns out I was the first of my generation to discover chiefdelphi and the guys in charge of building the shooter don’t know how to move around here yet, I am still trying to help them with that.
This year’s robot was build by the old members who graduated last semester so they are unable to help us, the designed a shooter which neede a total of 4 motors, 2 motors to grab the note and 2 motors to launch the noted, we don’t have that much resources so our plan for this offseason is to reuse our old idea, but becasue one motor gearbox got lost we are unable to use just NEOs, thats why we are looking the alternative to the CIM. More than anything, I could say its a rookie year for my and my team, since most of us except for 2 just joined this year and we are learning, and the old members are not always free to come and give us aid especially at this time.
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Just out of curiosity… what is preventing you from ordering a replacement gearbox?
Time and money more than anything, our offseason is the 31st of October, my team is in Mexico so stuff takes time to arrived and we don’t have that much money to ask for express delivery, I told them we could try but we would be without a shooter for the time being, we are still missing driver and auto practices.
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Are you trying to find this?
If I understand correctly, by line or tube you are referring to the hexagonal shaped output shaft on this motor. You are saying you don’t want to use this motor though because it is taken apart and you don’t trust it (I agree!).
If the other CIM motors have a 8 millimeter diameter output shaft, then the linked adapter is what you likely need.
Am I correct in this interpretation?
If that is what you need, you will also need this 2 x 2 x 10 mm Machine Key - AndyMark, Inc
To help us help you - can you provide a link to the gearbox you are missing? Is it purchased from Andymark, REV, VEX, West Coast Products?
If you can find a link to the product you are missing that would be helpful!
Otherwise - are you just missing the gear that goes on the end of the motor? Does it look like this for the other motors? - NEO Pinions - REV Robotics
Search on these websites and please let us know what part you are looking for or missing:
https://www.revrobotics.com/ion/motion/gearboxes/
Another team in your area might have exactly what you need, if you can help us find what you’re looking for or what your motor is trying to attach to, that would be best.
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If your team has a machine shop - you can also make your own hex adapter with a little work. Take some hex shaft you might have laying around (looks like this - 1/2in Rounded Hex Shafts - REV Robotics)
You can drill it out to 8 millimeters on a lathe if you have one, and then use something like loctite or another very strong glue, to glue it to the CIM motor shaft. Glue won’t be as strong or reliable depending on what you use, but it should run through one offseason event.
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Yeah that is correct, we are looking implement 2 hexagonal shaped shafts onto 2 CIM Motors, yeah I believed that is what we might need to achieve this, althought my main concern was to need to by new stuff since I don’t think we have that much time.
This is the part we are missing according to my team:
I personally don’t talk with teams around my area, from what I have been told by previous members, my team is not known for “socializing” outside of competitions, althought I have plans to make friends and connections in the next competition.
I believe we have plenty of left over hex shaft, I was wondering on how to actually attach it to the motor, and what you are saying actually sounds like a viable option.
I will talk it with my team and see if we are able to make it, appreciate it a lot for the reply, will keep informed on future progress. Thank you!
The other thing you can do is use a “Set screw” - this is a screw that is tapped and threaded into one of the flat faces of the hex shaft and “locks” the CIM shaft to the hex using the force of the screw. It works best if the CIM has a bit of a flat spot.
It works the same as this = Shaft Collars - 10 Pack - REV Robotics but in the hex shaft itself. The screw used to clamp the hex to the CIM shaft should use loctite or another retaining “glue”.
If I had no other option, I would use glue/loctite in addition to a set screw if possible.
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For this solution would we need to drill a hole into the hex shaft? That is my understanding.
Correct, first drill to the proper size and then cut the grooves (called threads) for the screw into that hole. You would likely need help from someone if you have not done this before, because it requires specific drill bit sizes and to create the grooves you’ll need what’s called a tap.
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Alright, this seems as a more viable solution to our current situation, later today I will talk it and see if we are able to make it. Appreciate it a lot for the solutions and will let you know if we managed to fix this issue. Thank you so much 
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Might also be a good idea to check your shop or ask your mentors if any of them have this: LOCTITE® 638 | Henkel Adhesives
If you use that to put the hex adapter on, you won’t need a set screw or anything. Be warned you will need a pretty hot torch/flame to remove this once it is attached.
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Two things to add.
First you can make your own hex adapters with the keyway (groove for locking rotation) if you can find a keyway broach. Something like this: McMaster-Carr If you have access to a well stocked machine shop they might already have the right size. they can be very handy if you use Neos and CIMs. You may also be able to take that hex adapter off the bad CIM and reuse it. You might have to heat up the adapter to get it loose.
It sounds like you have enough Neo motors and are only missing the gearbox parts. If that’s right, you can put the same hex adapter on a Neo or a CIM, so you might still be better off with the Neos. And if the gear boxes had a reduction stage in them which they probably did, that would slow down the output and give you more torque so you might need to figure out if your shooter will even work with the increased speed.
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Agreed, if you have Neos, use those instead of CIM’s with the hex adapter. You will also have better control over your system due to the Neo having built in encoders to better control the speed of your shooter wheels.
We are not lookign for power or that stuff, we are looking for a replacement for one of our NEOs motors, the way our shooter works currently is that it needs 4 motors, 2 to suck in the note and 2 to shoot the note out. We have 3 compelte functional NEOs but the fourth is missing what looks like the connector from the motor to the gear box. If that clears things.
I think his point is that if a CIM + the hex adapter might work for your use, then a Neo + hex adapter is better.