Anyone figure out how to install a Minion Motor or X44 on an older Versa Planetary gear box by chance? I don’t think there is any inputs that with for Versa Planetary. But thought I would ask to see if anyone had any tricks.
Someone set this up with the kraken x66 so this might be a helpful thread
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I got a couple of these guys 3D metal printed (SLM 316 Stainless Steel) a while back. The fit seems good, planning to test durability in the next day or two. Works for standard x60s as well as x44s and Minions.
The full-size Kraken x60s can use the standard Vex “CIM Adapter” for mounting (assuming you cut the shaft down). For x44s or Minions, it’s fairly straightforward to 3D print a comparable mounting adapter.
It’s worth noting though, Versaplanetaries load ratings state that for a Falcon 500, ratios higher than 30:1 should not be used. Performance wise, x44s are roughly equivalent to a Falcon 500 (Minions similar too, perhaps a bit lower), but a full-size x60 is quite a bit more powerful and likely shouldn’t be used for most applications.
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I know some powered metal press people, I wonder if they could press some of these out. That is pretty good though. I didn’t know you could 3D print Stainless!
Me either, I kinda stumbled across it. Apparently you can also 3D print Titanium, Aluminum, and Tool Steel through the SLM process. I picked stainless because it was the cheapest option at the time.
Out of curiosity how much did something like this run you for cost? Quantity? Turn around time?
They’re under $7/ea plus shipping. Lead time is about two weeks plus shipping time (3-5 days shipping for me through DHL).
I ordered 5 on my first attempt. Modified the model after receiving them to reinforce the model in a few places where it looked a bit thin. Ordered 15 of those a few weeks back, expecting them in a few days (there was a week delay due to Chinese new year). The quantity ordered doesn’t appear to meaningfully affect the price.
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It’s actually easier to adapt them than it was for Falcons. All you need is the CIM adaptor and the old 8mm input for the CIM shaft. SplineXS shafts are 8mm OD, so the old inputs work just fine on them. We’ve actually done this and had no problems.
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We have BOTH…I’ll have to give that a try. Thanks for pointing that out.
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this is very cool. Would you be willing to share the model?
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Sure.
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thank you
Did you ever end up testing the durability?
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Woah very competitive. Where did you order from?
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We made a 3d plastic version which is in our CAD release. We couldnt destroy it even with an X60 on a dyno.
There is some tribal knowledge that is needed to make it robust. If anyone is interested, I’ll be willing to bloviate.
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We did the same using carbon fiber-polycarb filament, 100% infill. Never had any damage during testing. Ultimately did not use it on the robot since the design changed but would have been happy with the results.
Similar story for the Kraken-MAXPlanetary adapter when those were sold out for months.
I would bet that they were ordered via CraftCloud. Timing lines up with what I’ve experienced when ordering stainless prints from there. Pricing there is highly competitive.
Never had time to do actual destructive testing on them, but for what it’s worth, we used three of them on our robot this year (including on at least one mechanism that saw a lot of high-energy direction changes) and never had any issues with them. We plan to keep using them going forward.
These ones we got from PCBWay, though we’ve also ordered similar parts from JLC in the past. At the time PCBWay offered the faster turnaround and better deal (no idea what they’d run now with the tariff situation though).
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It would be cool if SendCutSend or fabworks had Metal 3d printing but I know that takes a lot of post processing work.
Willing to share? We were not able to get the Kraken adapters (for the same reason) this year so we ended up using Falcons and their respective adapters. Would’ve loved to stay all Kraken.
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