[HELP] Transfer Power to a Moving Carriage

[sjim]

I am looking for some inspiration from the board.

I am trying to build a warehouse robot a bit like this one:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-automated-storage-robot-warehouse-blue-plastic-crates-image34142419

At the moment I am stuck with the movement of the carriage. My problem is that I do not want the motor to be on the carriage itself and need to transfer it somehow.

I have tried using a chain to pull it, but it doesn't seem to work very well.

Sorry for the poor images. It's not a good place to take them. Also I don't know why they are upside-down. I'm looking into that.

[TheItalianBrick]

Maybe chains? you can create a double floor....where under there are chains and chainslink to connect to the carriage....

[sjim]

Maybe chains? you can create a double floor....where under there are chains and chainslink to connect to the carriage....

Thanks!

The problem though have been that the carriage seems to heavy and the chain flex too much and also the strain on the driving is too high.

[TheItalianBrick]

you can try with worm gears! But the longest you can go is 32 studs.......fill up a 32 studs axle with worm gears and power it! on the carriage put any gear you want and "fix" it....that will make it move.

Othersiwe you can use the 8043 tracks to create a chain!

[Rockbrick]

Ropes and pulleys is another way - same as chains really but if you pulley the ropes you can get great power - to - weight capabilities

think this but upside-down:

[zweihander]

you can try with worm gears! But the longest you can go is 32 studs.......fill up a 32 studs axle with worm gears and power it! on the carriage put any gear you want and "fix" it....that will make it move.

Othersiwe you can use the 8043 tracks to create a chain!

The limit can be practically infinite. Fill as many axles as you want with worm gears, and join these axles with inline axle joiners. This will be the powered shaft on the ground. On the carriage couterpart, use 1x4 gear rack. This way, on the connection parts of the shaft, one stud of the 1x4 gear rack will be on one axle, two studs will be on inline axle joiner and one stud will be on the next axle. You can use more 1x4 gear racks to be safer. Plus, you can use bushes (or angled connectors as stabilizers for the shaft) between worm gears and reduce the number of worm gears used.

[DrJB]

Thinking of the cable cars of San Francisco. Cable are 'buried' underground and constantly moving on pulleys. All the cable car need to do is 'clamp' (hold tight) on one of those cables, and that's how it moves. it's similar to the gondolas on the Swiss snow stations.

Edited December 23, 2014 by DrJB

[Boulderer]

Maybe you can take some inspiration from Elias Iten's ropeway?

http://www.eurobrick...la#entry2062795

[aeh5040]

I suggest studying akiyuky's astonishing GBC train module. All the movement is powered remotely by a motor on the train car. The key is that friction is very low, and everything is very well balanced, thus keeping the torque required to a minimum.

Edited December 24, 2014 by aeh5040

[sjim]

Thank you for all the input.

I will do some tests when the christmas dust settles a bit.

Merry christmas to every one on Eurobricks!

[Boulderer]

I suggest studying akiyuky's astonishing GBC train module.

That is truly awesome!

[sjim]

I rebuilt the carriage to make it move easier. It is still chain driven, but now the chain drives gears moving the carriage on a gear rack instead of the carriage getting pulled.

Thank you all for your inputs!