Dual catapults and active motors

VEX V5 General Discussion Technical Discussion
1

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on creating a direct load slip gear catapult. I have already created a slip gear catapult, but it needs a belt to pull the ball to the loader which is time-consuming, and I feel we would benefit from a direct load catapult (like 240p medium quality or SingVex 8059’s). I saw a few doing research but I could not figure out if they used active motor input in order to keep their catapults down while loading or whether they had a mechanism that holds the catapult down to conserve energy. We are planning on doing a dual catapult like those mentioned before, and if anyone has any advice whatsoever, we’d really appreciate it!

Thanks!

2

Think you are referring to ratchet system.

3

A lot of people, myself included, are using a ratchet system to keep the catapult down to reload. But I’ve heard of people using the V5 BrakeType.Hold function to do it, but that takes up power, and possibly could have a chance of damaging the motor if held under too much force.

4

https://vexforum.com/t/ratchet-mechanism/51052/1

5

using ratchet as well, but you may be able to pull it off with a potentiometer controlling the arm and positioning it ready for loading.

6

We used a P controller on a potentiometer to hold it down.