Newbie mentor helping newbie team is seeking advice about reliable off-the-shelf, two speed transmissions. Any advice or recommendation (pro/con) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
C3PO
www.andymark.biz is pretty well the go-to source for FRC robot power transmission components. They’ll have the transmissions you’re looking for.
It may not be prudent to presume a two-speed transmission is desirable before learrning 2010’s challenge, however, and $700 is a lot of money to spend meaninglessly.
Andymark Shifter Gen 1
http://store.andymark.biz/am-0001.html
Battle test and proven, I have heard about problems with the roll pins on the dog gear though.
I’m going to third the AndyMark recommendation…
…and second the “don’t buy before you know” recommendation. It’s quite possible that the game designers make AM transmissions illegal. It’s more likely, however, that the game doesn’t lend itself to two speeds, or two speeds are a disadvantage in the game. Unless you have a really long lead time on such items, wait until January.
If you want to go beyond the ToughBoxes (which are AndyMark transmissions) that they include in the KoP, then I would recommend buying some of his modification parts. He sells several parts that can be dropped in to make his off the shelf transmissions lighter, faster, slower, etc. It doesn’t require too much work to make the modifications either. You can find these parts by going to the transmission or gearbox you’re interested in using and then scrolling through the parts at the bottom.
Although I haven’t used the AM shifters, everything else from Andymark has been great.
But I encourage you to think about WHY you want a two speed tranny. Firstly, as has already been stated, you don’t know what the game will be… last year a two-speed transmission was completely useless (weight and complexity actually made them worse than useless) due to the surface of the playing field, even though it was completely legal. Fancy wheels, however, were illegal… so teams that purchased omnis and mecanums in advance with plans to use them in the game were out of luck.
Secondly, even if the game is well suited to a two-speed transmission… are you going to be able to take advantage of it? You’ll find several discussions on CD about two speed trannies, but unless you’ve got either an exceptionally skilled driver or some good auto-shifting software, there is a good chance you are not going to be able to maximize the benefits it has to offer. In fact, if you get stuck in high gear, or in the heat of competition the driver forgets to shift gears… having a two speed gearbox might not be a great advantage.
On the other hand, good on you for doing your research now… if you’re getting them to experiment and aren’t worried whether you use them in the game or not, then definitely consider getting an AM tranny. Just don’t assume you’ll be able to use it in the competition.
Jason
The AM shifters are definitely the way to go if you want off the shelf functionality. However, if you are just building a practice robot or something, you might want to go cheaper and upgrade the system later (AM toughboxes or equivalent), to save money for the build. Look at the whole line of shifters before deciding on anything, the older shifters have some differences.
Dewalt transmissions are also used often, though they take some work to implement. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1592
As much fun as custom is, I would suggest focusing on something more relevant for your first year. (4 speed servo shift was a waste of my life :P)
Thank you all!!! This site is a wonderful resource.
If you are experimenting, maybe some local teams have spare transmissions you can borrow for the fall to play with, then if you decide that is what you want for the 2010 game you can buy new or use whatever comes in the KOP.