Hello, we have been having trouble with our flywheel recently, we have been loading them through our intake up into our flywheel. We tested our flywheel when it was not attached to the robot and it seemed to go full field, now that it is mounted on the robot it can only make a high goal at 3/4 field length and we wanted to load it in the loading zone. My question is that if since we put the balls in the flywheel before it was attached to the robot directly in the middle of the flywheels make a difference now that it goes up and through the flywheel possibly only making contact with the top and losing some distance?
It sounds like you might have mounted your launcher at a different angle than you tested it at. Maybe try changing the angle it releases the ball at. Technically the optimal trajectory for distance is 45 degrees, but a lot of teams have been using lower angles this year.
We are using an about 50-55 degree angle, should we lower it to 45? We are really stressed this week because we have until Saturday to complete it.
Is your flywheel vibrating a lot with how it is mounted? This could be causing your launching to be less efficient. Also, I’d try to use rubberbands on your flywheel to increase the compression.
No, not much vibration, currently we are using a Omni wheel and a regular 4" traction wheel. Spacing is pretty much perfect and I don’t really know why it isn’t working at this point. My mind has been getting foggy lately with the deadline in a few days.
When I get back to the robot tomorrow the first thing I will do is take a protractor and make it 45 degrees then figure it out from there.
Attaching a flywheel assembly to a base can twist the flywheel brackets enough to cause significant friction. A little pinch here, or a little twist there can really add friction and reduce speed and distance.
This seems more likely. I’d worry about this more if the launcher isn’t at a crazy angle.
We are actually using about a 28 degree angle (taken by protractor after mounting) With our 21-1 ratio it shoots full field and as close as just in front of half field. Though we have this it isn’t a bad thing to put it higher we have a team here at 50ish degrees also.
Yes, loading your balls in at different positions can really alter your shots. The compression of the ball is less, and less energy is transfered to your flywheel. If your angle was working before and it hasn’t changed, then it’s probably because you were loading the balls differently.
I would check and see if the ball is still touching anything that could compress it before entering the launcher. I don’t know what your intake looks like so I can’t really offer anything as far as the feeding to the launcher goes. However, make sure the ball is loaded DIRECTLY in the center of the launcher, if it touches one wheel first it will slow it down before the launch and you won’t get as much distance.
I agree with this. I think that going any close to 45 degrees would be pretty good. I also noticed a lot of team that are a going with a lower angle too.
Thanks,
Murf.
As many have stated, 45 degrees is the best when you absolutely need the distance. However, after you figure out the problem and starts shooting over, I would suggest a higher angle (60 or so) because that (theoretically) allows for the most area of the mouth of the net (perpendicular entry).
I love low angle shooters, though; the impact it has and the straight line it goes into the net is awesome 
Oh, and one thing to keep in mind: the speed the ball travels at into the net isn’t important.
We actually found that it was harder to get the range right with a higher angle. It seems easier to lower the angle and hit the back of the net.