In this video you can see the hook is getting stuck on the ring and not dropping it on the mobile goal. What are your hook lengths like? We have competiton in 3 days and any help would be much appreciated!!
4 Likes
My team uses 4 hole long, 3 hole wide c-channels as our hooks. People say that they aren’t good, but they work just as well as plastic and our heavily modified lady brown can easily pick the rings off the hooks. Additionally, is that extension holding the mobile goal temporary? It looks out of size.
1 Like
That extension is actually on a winch system so it’s technically an extension from our starting of 16x17.5". Also is there a chance you could elaborate more on how the hook is made?
Here is an image, apologies for the lighting and visual obstructions. I can get a far better image tomorrow.
3 Likes
I think that chain is a little too loose, and the standoff on the pillow block bearing is a little too long, so it gets caught on the ring when you move it down. Try playing around with chain tension and where the actual shaft is.
1 Like
That chain looking long is because the metal is bending when it gets stuck on the mogo, if the metal wasn’t bending the chain tension is perfect
i’d recommend using a shorter standoff for the hook if possible. Also, a lot of teams put small wheels on the top axle. I’m not using a hook (I have a hood robot), but i’m guessing those wheels somehow prevent this from happening, although it may require some tuning.
From what I can see it is just your mogo needs to be tilted a bit more. With more tilt it will work a lot better. Otherwise looks pretty good, you may have to adjust your hook position after you adjust the tilt.
I can see how the wheels could help, I’ll do my best to try them today.
Specifically 3 inch 30A flex wheels on each side of the conveyor belt.
I think your problem isnt in the standoff length.
Your hook is extremely loose, and this allows for the chain to bend in one direction fo the other when putting rings on. I would suggest either adding a tensioner or removing links until you have to pull to get the chain to connect.
Also, I forgot something, you might want to up the speed of your hook intake. If you look online, you see hooks running at extremely high speeds, sometimes 600rpm.
A few things to add:
- As others have said, you should add flex wheels on the top axel. They give you the ability to adjust the angle the rings are thrown at. By moving the wheels closer to the chain, the front of the ring flips faster, and by moving them farther, the back flips faster.
- Speed up your intake. This will not only help you score faster but helps the ring go fully on the stake instead of getting stuck on the flaps.
- Consider using polycarbonate as hooks. I’m not sure if you have any or the money to buy some, but by watching YouTube videos you can get a pretty good idea of the optimal design. If you really think the hook is the problem then this should help. (Btw if you can’t get polycarbonate, you can cut an aluminum plate. I know it’s not the best but it works)
Those first two are being added. Question about the polycarb, we do have some but do you know the dimensions the hook should be?
as for the loose chain that was a problem with the metal bending back when the hook got caught on the ring, if you watch the beginning of the video you will see it began nice and tight.
I second this, we switched our hook from 200 rpm to 600 rpm and it is much better now, so that could also be your issue.
Look at a funny thing called thats not the begining of the vudeo
well, just because its taught at one part of the video does not mean it is taught all the way through. Most hooks will fail at the point that the screenshot shows (since pushing the ring onto the stake requires large forces on the hook, hence pushing it back.). On second look I see what appears to be a tensioner on the bottom of the hook system to form a triangle.
I would suggest moving that to create more tension, or to decrease hook chains.
Also, saying the chain is taught at the start of the video doesnt disprove that the chain is still sagging in the screenshot.
other people can correct me if im wrong about this, but i also noticed youre using actual standoffs for the hook. That’s more space between the ring and the stake, and that might be causing issues.