Removing High Speed in AM Super Shifter

Technical Technical Discussion
1

Our team has come to the realization that we have absolutely no need for the second speed that is available in our AM Super Shifters. In the beginning of the season we thought we would be traversing the field multiple times leading us to chose the SS. However, at our first competition we maybe crossed the barrier two or three times and never went into high gear. We have also realized that our drive train may have been geared to high seeing as how are robot jumped more than turned. Ultimately we would like to remove the second stage of the super shift along with all other pneumatic related components to give us more weight to play with elsewhere on the robot. We have thought about changing gear boxes but out drive plates are designed around Super Shifters and the allocated 6 hours we have before Mount Olive would not allow us change this.

I have thought about this for a while and I think that if we just remove the gears and leave all the associated shafts we will be able to take out the pneumatics and achieve the desired results. Any clarification into this subject would be great.

2

You could use a retaining compound like loctite 680 and literally glue the dog gear and shaft in place.
To remove the gears you will need to replace them with some kind of spacer.

3

You could use the spring return cylinders, they hold u in low gear until air is applied to shift to high. They would hold you in low just fine with nothing hooked to them
You wouldn’t loose the weight of the gears and cylinders, but the rest of the air system could go if you didn’t need it.

4

In 2010 we turned an AM Shifter (Gen 1) into a single speed box simply by removing gears and locking the dog in place with a spacer.

5

This year we did the same, but with a Gen 2. However we never removed the high gears from the gearbox. We simply locked down the pin to low gear with New spacers and the pneumatic cylinder holding plate. All you have to do i bring new bolts and spacers to the competition. Remove all cylinders and pnuematics that are no long needed, and put new spacers in place and bolt them down. I’ll try and find a picture or a CAD to show you.

EDIT: Here is a picture of the modification that maybe able to be used on a SuperShifter

6

Thanks guys. I think were gonna attempt the spacer idea because we already use the spring return air cylinders and we just want to cut as much weight as possible. Removing the gears and all associated air is the main goal and we think the spacer is the best idea. Hopefully it will give us enough weight to change our arm:D

7

I think you can also use a bolt and nuts to hold the “shift lever” to where you want it (similate the pneumatic in or out).

I think the fitting where the pneumatic connects is a 1/4-28, so use the right bolt!

8

The low gear is really low - usually close to 5 - 7 fps. That is really slow.

9

If you have the money, why not look for a solid toughbox gear reduction you like for a quicker fix?

10

This. If you want a good, one speed gearbox, use Andymark’s CIMple box that came in the kit. It’s not only a good one speed, but it’s also lighter than the AM SS, so you’ll not only get your preferred speed, but loose robot weight in the process. It’s a win-win scenario.

11

Final speed depends on your wheel size and any output ratio from chain/belts. In 2010 when we locked our 2 speed, we put it in high gear and increased the final chain reduction to obtain a speed of about 9 feet per second.