We are new to pneumatics, so I have a question:
If we were to run 2 pistons as clamps from the same reservoir, would it last throughout the entire match.
T o further clarify, these clamps would be grabbing mogos for the purpose of putting them on the platform.
My understanding is that the cylinders (pistons) only consume air when they are moved. You will quickly go through a tank pumped up to 100 PSI so you will want to conserve the number of times you move them.
You may want to test how many times you can switch the them before the tank runs out to give you an idea of your capacity.
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From what I have seen, yes this would work, but they would be weaker. We used our two reservoirs, and it worked much better and was able to hold them well the entire time.
We don’t have the ability to have a second reservoir, we’re only going to have 1 for state. Is it more worth it to just have 1 clamp be motored, and one be pneumatic? Or is it better to rock 2 pistons off of one reservoir?
My teams doing 4 off one reservoir and we’re fine but I usually only use 16 actuations a match.
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Can I see your motor distribution? That would help me see whether its worth it or not.
4m drive
2 x 1m lift
2 x 1m clamps
So are you thinking to replace the two 1m clamps with the Pneumatics? I think that you could probably get away with using two per resevour. We did the two resevour to actuator so we could hold it better. We go for the neutral goals and having a strong clamp usually helps us get it away from another team. Well, thats my two cents.
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Oh, yeah, just saw this. They work wonders with helping us get them onto the platform.
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(deleted the word “piston” as it is not proper terminology)
This is correct (unless you have a leak!), pneumatic cylinders only consume air when actuated. Double acting cylinders use twice the air as single acting cylinders. One consideration to get more actuations of your cylinders is to be sure that the pressure regulator is installed between the reservoir and the soleniod valve, and turn down the pressure to the minimum needed for your mechanism(s) to operate properly. Lower psi means more actuations from a reservoir. Additionally, every actuation will be consistent until the reservoir pressure has dropped to below the “working pressure” set on your regulator.
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Thank you. Everyone does this and it annoys me. The air cylinder is the whole assembly, the piston is just the little rod that oscillates.
If you replace the motors with pneumatics, where will you relocate the motors to? A motorized clamp will almost certainly be stronger and more consistent than a pneumatic one. Don’t replace your motors unless you need them somewhere else.
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I was thinking of a 6m drive, or making room for a ring mechanism.
If you have proper clamp geometry, you shouldn’t need any air to keep the clamp closed. I’ve found that if you have the pivot point lower than the rim of the mogo, the clamp holds itself closed with no air power.
That’s what we did when we used the pneumatics for the clamps. We strengthened our lift and made a ring intiae
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