ARCHIVED · 2023 — 2024 · Mechanism design
Ball-Shifting PTO
A dual-output power take-off. One motor feeds either of two outputs through a ball-shifting mechanism, so the robot carries one motor instead of two.
2023.01.__ · STARTED · ball-shifting power take-off · one motor, two outputs
Parameters
- MECHANISM
- ball shifter selecting between outputs
- OUTPUTS
- two, driven one at a time
- PURPOSE
- save the mass and space of a second motor
- TAKEOFF
- gears or pulleys, depending on the load
- STATE
- archived — first attempt, superseded
What it was
A power take-off moves power from one place to another. This one splits a single source between two outputs that never need to run at the same time, which is the situation where a second motor is pure mass — and on a competition robot, mass and volume are the budget you actually fight over.
I designed the ball-shifting mechanism itself. The outputs are not attached to anything in this version; they are a shaft each, ready to drive gears or pulleys depending on what the load turns out to be.
It was a first attempt and it reads like one. Archived because the thing I wanted next was a differential take-off, where both outputs run together and the split is continuous — a different mechanism, not a revision of this one.
Evidence
None public. The repository for this one is private and there is nothing here a stranger could check, which is why the parameter table above carries no measured quantity. Ask and I will show you.