Hey there, looking to purchase an elevator kit, and wondering what people have found to be pros and cons of these kits. y - Specific things I’m looking for is: Durability and Ease of Design Implementation. It looks like the WCP you can easily add stages as necessary and has a smaller footprint in general. Of course it’s out of stock right now). Also, can you build the 2 stage Thrifty kit as a one stage?
I won’t answer which is better, since our team hasn’t worked with the WCP elevator, but the Thrifty kit was easy to integrate and we were able to use it as a one stage elevator without any issues.
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We used the Thrifty kits last year (to answer your question, you can build as many or as few stages as you want with these) and the REV kits the year before. Both were super easy to use and I don’t think we ran into issues with either option.
You may also consider the SDS Elevator Kits. They require the purchase of tube plugs which they also sell. These are a new product though so I don’t think you will find many reviews on them yet.
Often times, especially in FRC, the best option is the available option.
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The Thrifty kit has been nice by being an entire system of bearings and the necessary chain and rope parts to actually move it - a lot of others are just the bearing blocks and leave the rest for you to figure out.
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I am not convinced any elevator kit is a one size fits all solution, some seem better suited based on the 2x1 (or 1x1) construction you use. Some have better access for fasteners or gussets etc. which may matter based on how the elevator is attached to your bot and what is attached to the elevator (including cable chases).
Availability, as mentioned, is another factor.
Now is there an outright bad solution from the COTS suppliers? Probably not, at least until you get into niche cases such as slender elevators, lifting the whole bot, large side loading, or you want to do something weird like intentionally warp/rack the stages for fine gamepiece placement control.
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Haven’t worked with WCP, but we used Thrifty on our climbers, and they were very consistent for us. Highly recommend and one stage no issues.
We haven’t had experience with the thrifty bot elevator, but in the main season we used and really liked the WCP Inline Bearing Blocks and they were great. For our B bot this offseason we used the REV bearing blocks as we had a bunch from a sponsorship and they also work, one downside is the stages are further apart with those. We are looking at shifting towards the new SDS ones that were also just released. Billet Elevator Bearing Block – Swerve Drive Specialties
Yeah, I haven’t gotten my hands on the SDS ones, but i really like how you can put a plate in between the Bearing Block and the Tube.
They Are also comparable with the WCP ones — you could use them both on the same elevator as they utilize the same spacing between stages.
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