Hi vex forum. Our team is trying to make a so called “pancake flipper” for the caps. One c channel is attached to the motor, and the other is not. The side that is not flops and doesn’t carry the weight of the cap.
I’m not sure I understand the problem completely. Can you not add cross-beams to help stabilize it? That is the best way to fix any “floppy” mechanisms, if possible.
1 Are you using bearings? 2 use more than one connection point for the gear. 3 have supports on the outside of the gears.
I think an issue might be that the axle is torquing slightly through the middle. I would not suggest using that kind of long axle as the only means to turn the other side. Cross bracing would help, if all possible.
Use a high strength axle.
That’s the thing. We can’t add cross beams because the cap needs to be able to slide through.
The block bearings? yes to those. Not exactly sure what you mean by having more than one connection point but 2 screws come off the gear to attach to the c channel so it will rotate. How can we have supports outside the gears?
What other way is there?
Well, using cross bracing or moving the motor to power across both sides.
But Cam is probably right about a high strength axle. Probably the easiest.
Why not use a larger gear on the other side, too? It would handle the torque better. Also, why aren’t any spacers visible between the gears and the c-channels?
We aren’t using a bigger gear because it gets stuck on a piece of our oift while it goes up. We have a couple small spacers.
That makes sense. You might still consider using them and trimming a little bit if they just get stuck in one spot.
I’m pretty sure I can see threaded steel (screws lacking spacers) in some spots between the gears and the c-channel. The screws will hold it together better if there is a good connection there, otherwise they’re just loose or using some unwanted distortion to become tight.
the issue is that your shaft is having to hold a lot of weight and transfer a lot of energy. you really don’t what this. a high strength shaft would probably fix this, but better would be to put bracing between both c-channel.