Well basically, I have heard almost no teams are using chain, let alone for a Cascade Lift. I have heard from many teams that the chains snap, but with what my team is doing they do not snap. I think we have a pretty solid idea and it works with a motor, but I was wondering if other teams have tried this or thought the same and decided it wasn’t efficient?
Most of the problems with chains we’ve seen arise from them being too loose, too tight, torqued sideways or obstructed. So yes they can be unreliable, but we’ve had 4 competitions with a 3-stage chain-only cascade and not had a single break. The main issue is increased load at the extremes, as getting the right sprocket size under the space constraints means the chain geometry is not ideal throughout the full travel.