Team 254 Presents: Deadlift Technical Binder. The binder can be found here. If you have any questions or want more specifications, feel free to ask!
Finally! Is code next?
Code will be coming out soon!
1.How are the carriages driven up and down? They appear to be attached to timing belts through some type of clip?
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What type of bearings did you use for your elevator?
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What types of belt did you use in your elevator?
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How did you install your chain in the tubing?
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Are you using the talon srx or victor SP?
*effect
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This is a great resource! Thank you for releasing it.
As always, the design binder is amazing.
I’ve got a few questions about the design process and the robot itself.
From what I can see, you guys have almost all of the robot in CAD before you start making parts for systems other than drive. At what point in the season do you finish drivebase CAD and the rest of the CAD? How many people do you have on your CAD team, and how long do they work to get it done?
Finally, does your team use any type of version control for SolidWorks, either EPDM or workgroup? If so, what type of server/computer does it run on?
It looks like you had no way to adjust chain tension this year. Would you recommend running a chain in tube drive system with no tensioners in a more aggressive game, or would you probably switch back to an adjustable and accessible design?
I’ve also seen your team run 3mm pitch pulleys off the output shaft of the RS-775 motors many times. Are these pulleys you make yourselves with a press fit for the motor shaft, or are they something else?
What material was used for the friction brakes?
When you release the code will the simulator also be released? I’d love to see it.
Thank You Team 254! Simple and effective process.
Is it just me, or did one of 254’s mentors post a reply, only for it to disappear? :ahh:
If you guys are willing, I’d love a more in depth overview of the brake system used.
I did. Alex will add to what I had. He had some additional insight specific to the assembly and maintenance.
If I recall correctly from my visit to their pit in St. Louis, it’s dead simple. Literally just metal on metal contact when the piston is engaged. The pressure and friction are enough to stop the elevator.
When I looked at it, it looked like there was an odd rough brown material, not something like aluminum on aluminum.
We used 410 Stainless Steel to make a “disc” that pushed against a High Friction Molded Brake & Clutch Lining Sheet. It works just like a disc brake, except the forces are applied axially about the point of rotation.
As you can see, the disc spins and slides on a 3/8" hex shaft. This allowed us to install the disc brake outside of the gearbox. It was the smallest solution we could come up with.
See below:
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Via HTD timing belts (endless) joined with a custom timing belt clamp that was integrated into the carriage bearing block assemblies.
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Standard R3 and R4 equiv bearings.
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5mm Pitch HTD x 9MM wide
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We held the chassis vertically and lowered the loop of chain down the end of the tube with the sprockets already on it and slid the shafts through the bearing blocks.
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Victor SP
From what I can see, you guys have almost all of the robot in CAD before you start making parts for systems other than drive. At what point in the season do you finish drivebase CAD and the rest of the CAD? How many people do you have on your CAD team, and how long do they work to get it done?
Finally, does your team use any type of version control for SolidWorks, either EPDM or workgroup? If so, what type of server/computer does it run on?
It looks like you had no way to adjust chain tension this year. Would you recommend running a chain in tube drive system with no tensioners in a more aggressive game, or would you probably switch back to an adjustable and accessible design?
I’ve also seen your team run 3mm pitch pulleys off the output shaft of the RS-775 motors many times. Are these pulleys you make yourselves with a press fit for the motor shaft, or are they something else?
What material was used for the friction brakes?
Drive CAD is done early by a group of a few students and a few mentors. It ideally is complete in the first 4-6 days. The rest of the CAD can linger for many more weeks as prototyping continues. Deadlift wasn’t even completed in CAD until the last minute with some parts were designed days before stop build.
We use PDM workgroup to manage SolidWorks files.
Undecided on the chain in tube. An adjustable and accessible design has worked well for us in the past. We didn’t like that the chain rattled inside the tube, but otherwise we didn’t have any issues with it. Assembly was not difficult and once it was installed we never had an issue.
3mm pulleys are available from WCP. http://www.wcproducts.net/gt2-timing-pulleys
Friction material was from McMaster: High Friction Molded Brake & Clutch Lining Sheet.
Thank you for sharing! I find this really helpful 
I’m curious, what’s the point of dropping the center 0.100 when you have omni wheels in the corners? Just a failsafe if you decide to go all traction later on?
You guys had an absolutely fantastic robot; thank you very much for sharing through this resource!
The 254-style of very elegant, clean, box-oriented mechanical design makes your robots look deceptively simple… but let no one confuse elegant either for ‘easy,’ for not being full of design time/thought, or for not having complicated components.
I am intrigued as to what motivated you to use your particular elevator drive setup… I can see why a setup with 2 RS775’s geared very fast with a pneumatic brake for holding is more ‘mechanically ideal’, but it seems like similar performance could be attained with a CIM (or two) at higher reliability and with less complexity. Was the elevator speed needed with the weight/CG of the RS775 solution? It doesn’t seem like the power draw of a non-braking solution would’ve been too bad. Am I just standing on the other side of the ‘elite powerhouse’ line where the difference between an elevator at 5.85fps and one at 3fps is highly significant?
Also, am I correctly understanding the design that the elevator carriages were driven from only the right or left side (i.e., only from the right for the RC-carriage and only from the left side for the tote-carriage)? I see 4 long, vertical belts on each side which would make me think otherwise, but I don’t see how the power for each carriage is transmitted to both right and left on the elevator gearbox.
Fabulous design and execution! Tough ending at CMP, but everyone obviously still has the utmost regard for Deadlift!