I’m not sure if I’m posting this in the right place as this is my very first post! My team is relatively new to FRC and we are trying to building a semi circle for the shooter this year. We seem to have it working pretty well. The only thing we need to tackle next is a “flipper” that pushes the frisbees into the shooter (up until now we’ve been feeding the frisbees in by hand). We were thinking of mounting a servo onto this flipper and were wondering if anybody had any suggestions as to what type of servo (or other mechanism) we could use? Thanks!
The servos we have available in FRC aren’t quite up to that task, I think–not enough power. You could try using several working together, but that gets complicated in a hurry.
On the other hand, you did get a window motor in the KOP; those are fairly good “high-power servos” if you program them to run for a very short time on a Spike relay. A short-throw, small-bore, pneumatic cylinder may also be a good option.
If you only want to push the Frisbee straight, I would recommend using a pneumatic Piston. If you don’t have any pneumatics on your robot, then maybe a servo would be easier for you to implement.
Taran
The rookie team that we are working with was testing using a servo to feed their shooter today. It seems to work. My team is using pneumatics to maximize power and consistency.
Yeah you’re going to be pushing it on power if you try to use a servo. I would recommend a window motor or pneumatics. Another thing to consider is that if you can give the frisbee a little starting momentum then it will make your shooter that much more efficient (all the more reason to go with a more powerful motor).
You could always use an electric solenoid with some sort of lever attached. I know several teams are giving that a shot, and it can give you the flip you need without needing to go overboard with a window motor or adding all the extra weight and complexity of a pneumatics system ( assuming you don’t already have pneumatic systems on your robot).
If you DO have pneumatics on your robot, then I would say go with a small pneumatic cylinder. can’t beat it for speed/weight/force combination! Good luck!