This is our spare hanging mechanism, there are some bearings missing, the white bearings usually fill the track all the way around. they feed the tape out when the center spool is driven. The mechanism is driven by a CIM through a modified tough box (additional stage of reduction added) Any questions ask here.
Cool idea. What kind of hook are you using, and how far must the tape advance before it goes over the bar? My experience has been that tape measures collapse pretty easily.
Good Luck!
The hookis made of bent aluminum and weighs ~2 oz, the tape measure we used advertises as being able to extend 13 ft horizontally before it collapses. It can easily make it up to the bar.
Your mechanism is extremely clever. I’m jealous. Congrats on having lots of rookie ingenuity!
1712 prototyped a few different versions of tape measure-based hanging devices, but weren’t able to produce one that could meet our desired results. What brand and model tape measure did you use? Can you post some pictures of your hook? Were you able to avoid any issues with the cantilevered load on the tape measure?
My experience with prototyping such devices leads me to believe that this is a FatMax Extreme tape measure from Stanley.
Great work!
I attempted a prototype with one of those, so I’m trying to see what differences they had that led to better results. That is one beast of a tape measure, though.
I saw that in Boston, and it was awesome. Every time you guys went up to hang everyone would turn around to see the “tape measure bot” lift itself up. The most impressive thing was that it worked very well, one of the most consistent hangers of the competition.
Yeah, that’s the one.
I will see if I can find some pictures of the hook tomorrow.
The black box/housing everything is assembled in is easy to understand. My questions are:
1:Is the tape spool a custom part? If so how did you attach the tape?
2:How does the spool fit in the assembly?
Can someone please give me some more information on this concept. I would like to build a prototype.
Agreed, more information would be useful.
Thirded.
my team has been talking about this type of mechanism since kickoff, personally I would like to know how well this works for you and if we should give more thought to this idea.
How do you drive the tape upward? do you some type of rollers?
Have you been able to find the additional pictures?
Any other details can you give us?
Thanks.
Hey guys. This team is no longer in existence. Miki Oliver was the lead mentor/coach for 3280. He is on a rookie team now in RI…but he doesn’t come on CD. James Brown is probably the only person I know that I believe saw the device in action back 2010…he might still have pictures.
For the FTC Res-Q, on my home-school team, our idea was extremely similar. We used a thicker, stronger measuring tape and screwed it onto drawer sliders made of steel and it extended more than 5 feet in length. The measuring tape hanging mechanism is a great idea.
How is the hook attached to the end of the tape measure?