Today was originally planned to be a split day, with several people finishing the plates for the new Intake, while we also started recording our practice attempts for the new challenges. While we accomplished one of these tasks, we were unable to record any practice attempts due to an issue with the drivetrain
Drivetrain Issues
While we originally planned on recording attempts for the new challenges, we were interrupted by an issue with the right side of the drivetrain (a clicking/skipping sound). After putting the robot onto its side to analyze the drivetrain in closer detail, we checked the pinions on the motors and found all of them to have no noticeable issues. We planned to check the gearboxes next, but a team member mentioned an issue where brushless motors sometimes had an issue with their encoder, causing the motor to run irregularly. We tested this and found that the drivetrain ran correctly without the motor attached.
Above: A team member soldering a new CAN wire onto the old Falcon 500 motor.
New Intake Plates
Earlier in the day, several team members worked on finishing the plates for the new intake. The main fabrication for the plates was finished yesterday, so all that was left today was the holes. This was accomplished, though no additional progress was made due to focusing on the drivetrain issues outlined above.
Above: A recently milled hole in one of the plates