Help With Identifying Parts for Linear Lift

[MiracleMakers]

Hello. We are a rookie team made up solely of 7th graders and need a little help in constructing our linear lift. We ordered some 1.5" hollow aluminum t-slotted extrusions from McMaster along with a few other parts, but we can't quite figure out what linear bearings to order to make the extrusions slide or if we actually have all the parts we need. We seem to order parts, get them, try them out and then order more parts -- complete trial and error, which is getting a bit expensive -- and we're family/friends, not school sponsored.

Would someone be willing to share their parts list for constructing a linear lift based on the t-slotted extrusions? We would be very grateful.

Thanks,

Robin

[FTC Ringer]

We are using the 80/20 bearings. You can find ones that should fit your channel by searching Amazon for "15 Series, Single Side Short Unibearingtm Bearing Assembly." They're about $15 each, though, plus shipping. And you need two per stage, one on each side of the channel.

[FTC0409]

We worked with a local distributor of 80/20 which helped because we could explain our design and they explained what we needed. They also then custom cut our parts to our specification. We are using the 25-2525 Slotted Extension (25mm) which are slightly smaller than the 32mm channels. We used the 25-6760 Unibearing and they cut in half so that they didn't take up as much room (less overlap). In between the 80/20 we use 25-6797 top mount pad. We did have some issues with installing the 25-6797. We ended having to drill into them to countersink screws to screw into the 25-1941 t-nut.

[RRLedford]

We worked with a local distributor of 80/20 which helped because we could explain our design and they explained what we needed. They also then custom cut our parts to our specification. We are using the 25-2525 Slotted Extension (25mm) which are slightly smaller than the 32mm channels. We used the 25-6760 Unibearing and they cut in half so that they didn't take up as much room (less overlap). In between the 80/20 we use 25-6797 top mount pad. We did have some issues with installing the 25-6797. We ended having to drill into them to countersink screws to screw into the 25-1941 t-nut.

for FTC elevator lifts, the 1" size t-slot framing is already more than adequate strength. going multi-stage with 1.5" will make for a way too heavy robot, and overload the lift motor at decent speeds.

-Dick Ledford

[orangemoore]

To Add on to my mentors words here are some pictures of our lift this year and some thoughts. A big part of using 80/20 and other similar T-slotted framing product is using the right size so that you limit weight. Most of our robot is built out of 20mm while the lift and main support structure is using 1"/25mm. 80/20 1" framing is .5 pounds per 1 foot. in an elevator situation this becomes a lot with two sides Like our 2012-2013 robot. This year we have limited the amount of stuff on our lift to be as light as possible for 2 reasons the first is so we only need 1 side of a normal lift and 2 to be able to lift fast. We can go up to score in the 120cm goal in under 3 seconds.

Pictures are below:

2012-2013 Robot


Our elevator for this year

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=94C929092A028AC!1856&authkey=!AARXPAwG8o8h4RQ&v=3&ithint=photo%2cJPG

Overall Robot:

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=94C929092A028AC!1855&authkey=!AD4_B5sK9QqJ0ng&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpeg

Team 3507

[MiracleMakers]

Thanks All!

Thanks, everyone, for the helpful information -- exactly what we were looking for. Unfortunately, the pricing is a bit out of our league, so we're trying to switch to drawer slides. We built a prototype with the drawer slides attached to Tetrix and burned through the motor . . . now troubleshooting solutions.

Robin

[FTC8811]

Hi Dick

Your team's robot is looking awesome this year, as usual!

This is off topic: what is the orange plastic material you're using as the inline shock absorber? We're going with direct drive this year and I'm wanting some shock protection. Thanks!

Fried Elliott
Sunset High School #8811 & #9256 (formerly Lewisville HS #8114)

[FTC8811]

Hi Robin

It is awesome that you're trying FTC and that you're taking on a lift as part of your robot.

I am the coach for Sunset High School and we have two rookie teams. I started another team at another school last year, so that makes three rookie teams for me in a year!

The best advice I got as a rookie coach was "Pick ONE THING your robot can do to score and do it well. Don't try to do too much". This turned out to be excellent advice and we advanced to our Regionals. The top team's robots will do almost everything. When they're competing, they're looking for an alliance partner they can rely on to reliably score one or two ways while they do the rest. If you have that ability, you'll get chosen over many teams whose robots try to do a lot but don't do anything reliably.

Good luck!

Friedrich Elliott
Robo Bo Bison (#8811 & #9256)
Sunset High School
Dallas TX

[orangemoore]

Hi Dick

Your team's robot is looking awesome this year, as usual!

This is off topic: what is the orange plastic material you're using as the inline shock absorber? We're going with direct drive this year and I'm wanting some shock protection. Thanks!

Fried Elliott
Sunset High School #8811 & #9256 (formerly Lewisville HS #8114)

That is just our electronics board. This year we have gained indirect access to a laser cutter which can cut wood and acrylic. So we decided why not put color on our robot.

[drubal1]

80/20 part numbers

Hi, we are so stuck. We have tried different prototypes and now think we want to use 80/20. For team 3507, what are the bearing parts (the part the string goes around), their numbers, and where do you buy them? Also, we need two part 25-6760s for each two sections of the 80/20 right? (So, if I had four sections of the 80/20, I would need four 25-6760). Thank you so much for your help.

[orangemoore]

Hi, we are so stuck. We have tried different prototypes and now think we want to use 80/20. For team 3507, what are the bearing parts (the part the string goes around), their numbers, and where do you buy them? Also, we need two part 25-6760s for each two sections of the 80/20 right? (So, if I had four sections of the 80/20, I would need four 25-6760). Thank you so much for your help.

I will post later with more information

[drubal1]

Okay, thank you very much. Team 4291, San Antonio, TX.

[Dennis Paul]

Linear Lift Design

Hello. We had two rookie teams this year as well. Our lift design was developed after extensive research in this forum and through youtube. We finally decided on using 80/20 1020 Aluminum T-Slot Extrusions. We used their top-mount bearing pads but reversed them and had to drill them out to mount them. The pulley system is pretty slick - used 1" nylon idler pulleys. We used a push-pull system to make sure it would come back down if stuck. Our drive system consisted of a DC motor and worm gear with two tank tread (white) spools for take-up reals. We would be more than happy to supply parts list and pictures.

[email protected]

Hello. We are a rookie team made up solely of 7th graders and need a little help in constructing our linear lift. We ordered some 1.5" hollow aluminum t-slotted extrusions from McMaster along with a few other parts, but we can't quite figure out what linear bearings to order to make the extrusions slide or if we actually have all the parts we need. We seem to order parts, get them, try them out and then order more parts -- complete trial and error, which is getting a bit expensive -- and we're family/friends, not school sponsored.

Would someone be willing to share their parts list for constructing a linear lift based on the t-slotted extrusions? We would be very grateful.

Thanks,

Robin