We’re using 2 TB climbers with Neos with 12:1 reduction on a 1/2 spool and everything works smoothly but when climbing the chain the climbers do not stay parallel and the second stage binds and will not retract. We have tried lubrication without success but we think it is the delrin block that binds when the climber pulls sideways. So we are going to increase the gear ratio to overcome our design problems, but are looking for teams who may have found a successful ratio in this situation. We’ve used the AMB Calc and our stall load is over 500 lbs right now, so we don’t think it needs a lot more power. It takes a long time to uninstall/reinstall so we’re trying not to have to do it too many times. Thank you.
12 to 1 is a pretty weak gear ratio to be using. I would highly recommend switching to at least 25 or 36 to 1, as my team saw binding and falling in 2022 even with a 25 to 1 ratio (that was on 775s tho so if you’re running Neos you should have better luck).
I got fed up after the nightmarish problems we had in 2022 and went with a 48 to 1 ratio this year, but that’s probably overkill for most other teams. 36 to 1 should easily hold the robot up for 5 seconds after a match. Granted, this is with the andymark climber in a box, but the two designs are still very similar.
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12:1 should be perfectly capable of picking up a robot. Recalc here. You’ll probably need some ratcheting mechanism to STAY up though.
Anyway, it’s definitely a mechanical issue if you are seeing some binding in the climber. Try to make sure everything is assembled properly.
The 12:1 actually holds the climb fine. I think we’re just putting too much lateral force on the climbers due to the way the chain behaves.
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Changed the gear ratio to 48:1 (don’t ask) and it climbs like a champ. A very slow champ. I believe a much smaller gear reduction would have worked but it is too much work to exchange due to poor design planning. Thanks for all the replies and help.
has anyone found a way to keep the climbers up after the match ends with these climbers?
how high up do your climbers hold your robot?
We were able to hold the climb with neos (in brake mode) and the 12:1 ratio on our 2 climbers. We just couldn’t get full retraction of the climbers. I would suggest any ratio over 20 if using this setup. Our 48:1 is overkill
We’re about 8 inches of the ground with our 2 stage climbers, but you only need to not touch the ground to score the climb.
To keep our robot up after the match ends we attach a wrench to the hex shaft of our climber winch. When we stop powering the motors the ratchet on the wrench does all the work of keeping up the robot until we reset it for the next match. This allows us to have a very fast gear ratio for the climb.
Did the same sort of thing on the rope climber in 2017:
We later ditched the green shaft collar in favor of a velcro strap. The neat thing was that we didn’t unlock the ratchet, we slid it off the end of the shaft. The other neat thing was that running the shaft in reverse lifted the arm into place; we didn’t need a motor in the nearer TB mini gearbox.
We used a 48:1 CIM sport with a NEO on brake mode. Goes up plenty fast and the robot hardly drops an inch after the end of the match.
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Another piece of OPEX: we geared our TTB telescoping climber 20:1 with a single NEO and an AndyMark winch drum. Climbs require 30-60A depending on how much we’re off balance. We’re looking to either increase the reduction (to maybe 36:1) or adding a second motor.
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