Kia ora,
One of our teams is trying to figure out how to use 1 VEX IQ motor to run 2 mechanisms. They have used the max 6 motors and are wanting to power an extendable arm to touch the purple contact zone.
Does anyone have any examples or resources they could share so I can teach the team how to use 1 motor for 2 purposes.
Thanks from
Team 2223 - New Zealand
You’ll have to use some form of motor sharing, look at some of these links:
Ratchets:
Our experience with Ratchet Mechanisms in Change Up (62X)
VEX Ratchet Tutorial
315G Ratchets Explained (6 motor drive, 2 motors for everything else)
Smallest vex ratchet
Differentials:
Vex Differentials Explained
Differential transmission - power takeoff from the drivetrain motors
Differentials —“Some help from my fellow SCA member”
Differential Concept
Please share some examples to understand Differential & Bevel Gear Pack use case for vexiq
While most of these are for VRC, many of them should apply for IQ.
After talking with Milo at World’s, my kid learned about a mechanism to run two functions on one motor. He has flirted with the idea of making a video, crediting Milo for the inspiration. I will see if he still wants to make that video, he is working on another one at the moment.
You could also use a PTO, but that would require pnuematics
You could also add more motors than the rules allow, but that wouldn’t be legal in VIQC either.
Investigate a slip gear, particularly with respect to rack and pinion.
Reminder they are talking about VEXIQ, there is no parts modifications allowed other than cutting axels to length.
Understood. The concept can still work in VEXIQ using a rack and pinion. At the end of the rack, the pinion gear will start slipping.
Do you have a motor being used and dedicated for the blue dispenser only? You could use a pulley system that loosens the tension on the extension arm as the blue moves backwards (Relative to the blue), and then you can use a rubber banding system to propel the arm outwards. The string can tug the arm out a little bit, and the rubber bands can do all of the real work, but neither system can fully pull it out by themselves, alas, a hybrid system will work rather well. That’s currently what our team is using and it works great.
Here is a video of a direction switcher (not my video). I built one of these a while back, and it seems to work nicely. The only con is that each side can only move in one direction; otherwise, the mechanism will switch to the other side. The video isn’t the best quality, but I’m sure it will click if you look at it enough.
connect a rubberband triggered arm to the driveshaft