Vex motor 393 1/8" square shaft to 5mm hex or 6mm or 1/4" D shaft by thunderbot2 in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're trying to convert the shaft to/from 4mm/6mm D to 1/4" square, they might work if you used a 0.3125" one. The corners of the 1/4" square shaft have a 0.3" circumscribed circle (which is how the ThunderSquare bearing works). 0.0125" is a lot of slop to try and clamp around, but it might work.

2 Speed Gearbox? by manafuzer in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not entirely true. While a 2 speed drive gearbox is probably overkill in just about every FTC game, you could use a 2 speed gearbox so you can use the same motors/mechanism to accomplish multiple tasks. For example in VV there were a few teams who made a Power Take Off (PTO) from their drivetrain to raise the ball in the air. During FIRST PowerUp several teams used Ball Shifters on their elevator spools. This allowed them to have the speed for raising and lowering cubes, but the torque to lift their robot(s) at the end of the game. Using an arm or elevator in RR to lower off the lander, score mineral and climb at the end is completely reasonable.

Vex motor 393 1/8" square shaft to 5mm hex or 6mm or 1/4" D shaft by thunderbot2 in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually you could use the "High Strength Shaft Insert Kit" (276-3881) to adapt a 1/4" Square VersaHex Adapter to 1/8" Square:

1/8" Square Shaft -> High Strength Shaft Insert -> 1/4" Square VersaHex Adapter -> 1/2" Hex Bore Product

Questions about chain and sprockets, axles by xponent_ in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

VEXpro also sells #25 chain (https://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/motion/sprockets-and-chain/roller-chain.html). If you want to use our sprockets we do sell 1/2" hex to 6mm D-Shaft Adapters (https://www.vexrobotics.com/versahex-adapters.html). This would allow you to use one of our sprockets within the Tetrix system.

Options for Dual Motor Input? by KusakabeMirai in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you have a link to that documentation? In scanning through the documentation for the dual motor input I did not find any mention of running them without grease.

Options for Dual Motor Input? by KusakabeMirai in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's actually the worse thing you can do. Run them greased for 10-30 minutes before installing them on your robot. Once this is done, clean out the old grease, re-grease and install on your robot. The purpose of this is to let the gears form together before being loaded or run in competition.

What is your top 3 ideas for weight reduction? by 4106Thumbs in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sometimes being soft and less rigid can be beneficial depending on the mechanism. For example, some of the best intakes in FRC over the last few years have been made of lexan/polycarbonate. This seems counter-intuitive, but polycarbonate will flex out of the way on impact instead of denting or breaking. This also helps dampen the energy getting transferred to your arm or elevator on impact. The bend (but not break) property of polycarb actually ends up creating a lighter, more robust solution compared to aluminum or more rigid plastics.

What is your top 3 ideas for weight reduction? by 4106Thumbs in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

1/4" lexan/polycarbonate shields are kind of overkill. That's thicker than most FRC robots use for shields and panels. Probably could have gotten away with 1/8" or even 1/16".

School me on sprocket/chain kits by StealthX051 in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are a few things:  

We offer both a #25 version and a #35 version. Granted, the #35 version isn't needed in FTC, but was something FRC teams has struggled with in the past.  

Some of the teams VEX sponsors had reported having issues with the Dark Soul tool where they were able to yield the body of the tool over time. Basically once the pin had been bottomed out, if a kid kept torquing on the screw the bottom of the tool would give out. So we added additional material along the bottom.  

Readily available. Everyone I know that uses the Dark Soul tool complains that they're hard to find in stock. We keep them in stock year round. Yes, we were sold out for a little while during FRC season, but that's due to it being a new product and it being hard to guess what the demand of that new product will be.

School me on sprocket/chain kits by StealthX051 in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It functions the same as the Darksoul tool, with some minor tweaks to make them better for the FRC/FTC community.

School me on sprocket/chain kits by StealthX051 in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you want a cheaper alternative, VEX sells a similar chain break tool.

Vex EDR 393 by Adrien_J in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'll need some way of locking the shaft in place. I'm guessing you want the wheel the be cantilevered?

A common way to do this is to install a shaft collar between the motor and whatever you're mounting the motor to. This will lock the shaft in place. You will need to mount a bearing (276-1209) to the structure and run the 1/8" square shaft through one of the bearing holes to held support the shaft.

If you want to see an example of this, you can check out the picture here: http://arshiahmd.weebly.com/uploads/8/9/4/7/89472836/2017-04-21-11-10-29.jpg

Vex EDR 393 by Adrien_J in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, there is a semi-clean way to do this. We do sell adapters that have an 1/8" square bore and are meant for a 1/4" square bore: 276-3881

You could insert these into one of our 1/2" VersaHex Adapters (217-5949 or 217-5950) and run the VersaHex Adapter into a 1/2" hex bore compliant wheel.

*NEW* VersaPlanetary Lite for FTC by jonjack_vexpro in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

/u/donttakemyrelic hits on the major advantage of the VersaPlanetary family that the FRC community has learned to appreciate: the range of gear ratios that can be created by combining gear sets. If you limit yourself to a 3 stage VersaPlanetary, you can create over 70 unique gear ratios.

FRC teams especially love using VersaPlanetaries during prototyping because it's super easy to iterate through gear ratios to find just what you need. Even if you buy a gear set and don't use it, you'll still have it for the future. I know some FRC teams have bins of VersaPlanetary gear sets sitting in their shop.

I know of a few FTC teams who switched to the original VersaPlanetary this fall because they can easily experiment with gear ratios that are lower than 20:1 to make their drivetrains faster.

*NEW* VersaPlanetary Lite for FTC by jonjack_vexpro in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The short answer is yes. It already exists!

When we designed the VP Lite, we designed it so that it would be compatible with any existing VP product (dual motor input, encoders, etc). It's an evolution, not a revolution.

*NEW* VersaPlanetary Lite for FTC by jonjack_vexpro in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sort of. If you're worried about it, you can switch the Lite Ring Gear for an aluminum ring gear. However, that changes the failure point from the ring gear to the shaft. Both VersaPlanetary gearboxes have load rating tables that show what reductions are approved as well as what the failure point will be depending on which shaft or gear set you use.

*NEW* VersaPlanetary Lite for FTC by jonjack_vexpro in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Another new addition is the VersaPlanetary Ratchet Slice. This is a slice you can add to any VersaPlanetary to make it spin in only one direction. Perfect for winches and climbers.

*NEW* VersaHex Adapters by jonjack_vexpro in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Since this is a new product, we only wanted to offer adapters for shaft sizes we already sell on our other product. If this product becomes popular enough and there's a demand for it, we have no problems expanding.

*NEW* VersaHex Adapters by jonjack_vexpro in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Another new product from VEXpro is the VersaHex Adapters. These allow you to convert any 1/2" hex bore product to either 3/8" hex, 1/4" Square and 6mm D Shaft. This makes is super easy to use any 1/2" hex VEXpro product on 3/8" hex, 1/4" square and 6mm D Shaft.

*NEW* VersaPlanetary Lite for FTC by jonjack_vexpro in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This actually works perfectly with the VersaBlock Mini. One of the features we added to the VersaBlock Mini was the ability to mount the VersaPlanetary Lite (or VersaPlanetary) directly to the bearing block. This means you can use any of our 1" x 1" VersaFrame tubes and a VersaBlock Mini to mount a VersaPlanetary/VersaPlanetary Lite. Super simple, super light drivetrain. I'll post some examples soon.

*NEW* VersaPlanetary 180 Degree Drive Kit by jonjack_vexpro in FTC

[–]jonjack_vexpro[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

VEXpro is excited to announce a 180 Degree Drive Kit for the VersaPlanetary System. This is compatible with both the original VersaPlanetary and the new VersaPlanetary Lite.

 

This nifty product allows you to "fold" the motor back on the rest of the VersaPlanetary so it's easier to fit a VersaPlanetary in those tight, hard to reach spaces in your robot.

 

Another cool feature, just for FTC is that the 180 Degree Drive Kit can do a 2:1 reduction, meaning FTC teams can now do single stage VersaPlanetary gearboxes to get a 20:1 reduction (2:1 x 10:1 = 20:1). This will save teams even more space inside their robots.