I am building an AL5D kit. I noticed the gripper is pretty tight. I was worried the servo might stall trying to drive it. So, I added a little silicone oil to the gripper. That made it a lot worse! How can that be?!? I wiped off all I could, rinsed in hot water and then rubbing alcohol. It seems to be back to its original tightness. I think I have some Tri-Flow (Teflon-based). Maybe some Vaseline? Or would either of these cause everything to burst into flames?
Or should I just leave it be and it will loosen with use?
@RdRnr88 Welcome to the RobotShop Community. Can you remove the servo and see if the gripper moves freely? Note that the two rounded “arms” (as opposed to the fingers themselves) should wrap around the circle at the top when closing (the other way causes issues). If the fingers move freely without the servo, the servo has enough torque to move them and should not be problematic. Also, be sure to center the servo before connecting it to the gripper, and ensure the direction of rotation is good.
When fully closing or opening the gripper, be sure to not send a signal beyond the range, or else the servo will struggle and burn. For example, if the position command sent to close is beyond when the jaws are in contact, the servo will continue to try to reach the unattainable position.
If you still encounter issues, can you remove the gripper and gripper servo and perhaps take a short video of the issue?
Video was indeed viewable. You indicated you used silicon oil which worsened the situation. Can you remove that and perhaps see where the gripper might be getting caught? We use these almost daily to create the assembled version of the AL5D and this is the first time we are seeing this issue (confirming with assembly now just in case).
The motion should be fairly smooth, though the torque changes a little based on position, but it should never “snag” anywhere on the travel. If you’re unable to resolve this, we’ll proceed with an RMA.
