So my I was wondering how different teams are doing there intakes for this years game… My team is struggling to figure out mounting. If you could post a picture or explain your design here that would be great!
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Ours is similar to the bot we had last year: 2 larger flap wheels at the front that pull a ball out of the goals, then we have 2 mini wheels that push the balls far enough into the bot so the belt can grab onto the balls and score them.
For mounting we have a c-channel that is the backbone of the intakes mounted with 1 screw to the base in order to adjust its angle with additional stand offs/ c-channel coming from either direction to lock it in.
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We wanted our intakes to pivot for the middle goal so we essentially went for a “door hinge” design where the intake c channel runs through an axle between 2 other c channels. The actual intakes are a flap roller upfront and 3.25 traction wheels at the back, pointing straight out.
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Thanks I never thought about using those wheels.
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Our team sticked with mounting the roller with a platform raised by standoffs along with a screw joint. It’s a pretty solid choice.
We also iterated quite a lot on the roller, first starting with 2 separate rollers with 24t sprockets on the back and 2.75” omnis in the front. Then we switched the front to 24t sprockets as well. After that we tried out normal TT tread intake; and lastly were now using 600rpm rollers with 2 4” omni wheels.
My final verdict is actually that roller design really doesn’t matter that much. The goal tolerance probably a bigger factor as it can range from 6.1” to 6.6” (the ball is 6.3” in comparison). This means that the goal can be either so tight that it will be hard to remove balls even with your hand, or have zero resistance stoping the ball.
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I was at first going to do a custom plastic intake but realized that is unnecessary and later choose to do a tower takeover/China style intake on a screw joint to pivot when going around the goal. And when I figured out that the plastic intakes weren’t neassary I was sad because I spent a lot of time in cad designing them.
My team is struggling to figure out a way to mount our intakes. We’re doing flipouts, and we don’t know how to mount them to flip out during auton. Does anybody know anything about building flipouts?
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Yes. Pm me if you have any questions. We are using a double flip out. Head to timecode 17 to see them. 67101C Early Season Change Up Reveal - YouTube
I have my intakes deploy via a 4 bar mechanism, and they’re mounted on triangle brackets that allow them to swing in and out
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Ok my way of seeing it. Don’t change your design but I look at flip out intakes as a disadvantage. Because if they don’t flip out you are screwed.
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Yes agree, but should I have the intakes on rubber bands? like last year?
Do you mean flip out. It is all about what your design is like and what you feel is best. For me I carefully looked into it and said I didn’t want them to flip out. Keep in mind I had this on a cad for a long time and has changed it but sense. Also I know this doesn’t matter but I didn’t have flip out intakes last year either. Because I was worried for the same thing. And it just wasn’t needed. This is basically the same senario but a bit different.
No I don’t . I mean that when the ball is pulled in the intake arms are able to flex out ward but still grip the ball.
Why would you want the intakes to flex when inhaling the balls. Do you mean when you are descoring for the center goal
Yes. (20 Characters)
They would flex slightly to Increase grip and provide a little bit of leeway when pulling balls in or pushing balls out.
Wait how does that increase grip. Just compression. And I mean it can help a bit. But I would make it so it can go around the poles in the center to make it easier. Because what it sounds like is that you are going to have it pivot just slightly to increase compression.
Your probably right.