I have an eight bar that is geared 1 to 7 with 2 high power motors on each arm and when I lift the arm up it takes a lot of force. What I am wondering is should I just add more rubber bands or gear it down more to like a 1 to 21?
To me Rubber bands seem like a very temporary fix. I would suggest that you jump straight to the different gear ratio and see if that works. If your lift is steel then you may need rubber bands in addition to the different gear ratio. This is just my opinion feel free to go with your gut.
Good luck!
Richie
Most of the time, you should always add elastic aid to your lift. Elastic aid in theory counter-acts the weight of the intake and lift, meaning that your motors power is going to lifting the game objects. How much weight are you trying to lift? Usually 21:1 would be a little overkill. I would suggest adding an extra 2 motors to the lift if you could.
We are lifting a half metal half aluminum eight bar, side rollers, and an intake tray.
how many cubes?
generally people use 4-6 motors for the lift, particularily 8 bar
I’m not surprised your lift is struggling, since it only has 2 motors, and rubber bands only do so much
I recommend that you try for 4 motors on the lift, do you not have 4 right now because you have a 6 motor drivetrain?
This probably does not weigh too much, but if there are 2 motors running he lift (I am assuming 4 on the drive train) and 2 as intakes then you still have enough to run a 4 motor lift. this would probably eliminate the need for any elastics or much more gearing.Watch out for overheating motors!! That could be a major problem.
I will probably be repeating some advice here, but anyway.
Ideally you should allocate more motors to your lift, 4 is better and 6 is probably overkill, makes sure they are internally geared correctly.
Rubber bands are going to be essential in my opinion on any lift. They take the strain off the motors, and are worth it despite being tricky to get perfect.
With more motors and rubber bands, a ratio in the region of 1:21 will be a bit excessive for an 8 bar.
From my experience 8 Bars have been fine for a reasonable weight at the end with 1:7 on 4 motors plus a good elastic assist.
Seconding what Stanley has said.
A 2 motor lift isn’t going to work that well. You could use a lot of rubber bands or change the gear ratio but with the type of intake you plan to use, 2 motors are going to be doing a lot of work where as 4 or 6 would make it a little easier on the motors over all.
I ment 4 motors in total and to on each side, we have 4 motors on our drive and 2 motors on our intake.
If you have 4 motors in total then your lift should be fine. Check for excessive resistance on the joints. How is your lift failing exactly?