Help with Ball Intake

VEX V5 Technical Support
1

Hey everyone! We have been continuously testing our ball intake which is currently comprised of the standard rubber bands wrapped around sprockets. It seems to work fine but the balls every now and then keep getting shoved out of the intake rather than into it (like when we are trying to collect balls by driving forward). Another issue is that a ball keeps getting stuck on the sides of the chamber that brings the balls up. This issue gets more complicated when we try to grab two at the same time. Do you guys have any suggestions that could help us more efficiently take ball(s) up our intake (or how we could change it so that balls don’t get stuck?) Thanks any help would be appreciated!

IMG_0512[1].JPG
IMG_0512[1].JPG3264×2448 2.23 MB

IMG_0514[1].JPG
IMG_0514[1].JPG2448×3264 2.34 MB

2

I would add internal side wings to your intake to funnel the balls away from the sprockets. I would also use the #64 bands with an intake that wide. I would also raise your intake higher. You want it to just barely get a grip on the ball and pull it up.

3

What I thought of would be to twist the bands so that it looked more like an hourglass, and that would act as the side wings meepmeepme suggested.

4

Here are is an example of how different intake shapes can affect balls

Also has anyone tried the braided goliath intake for ball intakes? Is it better than just the normal rubberband setup?

1 Like
5

Yes! Exactly what I was meaning. The hourglass shape would help to center it, the same way the cone shape moved it in the first video. When I rebuild my rollers, I’m going to tighten it up a bit to get that effect.

6

I might try this shape also. I am not sure if it will be better though because how normal rubber band rollers work the ball kind goes inbetween the rubberbands some (they wrap around the ball a tiny bit) and push it, but with that goliath one it would all be friction.

If you don’t want to have to deal with hour glass, or you want to magnify it’s affects, you can add some plexy on the other side of the roller that funnels it in. Plexy has some flex to it so its good for this type of thing.

7

Thanks for all the suggestions! We will definitely try to implement them into our intake.

8