Inputs
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The complete physical height of the elevator when it is fully collapsed (retracted). This includes the stage staggering and the bottom structure of the elevator.

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The overall width of the elevator. This basically sets the width of the "tower" (stationary) stage and the widths of the other stages step down from that.

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The number of moving stages in the elevator. Note that every elevator has a stationary structure (usually called the "tower") that isn't counted as a "stage".

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Whether the last stage (typically called the "carriage") should extend out the top of the elevator or whether it should be a smaller structure contained fully inside the second-to-last stage.

This option is largely determined by the mechanism mounted to the elevator. On cascading elevators, a full-height carriage typically permits more stroke length.

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The height of the small carriage (last stage) structure.

Only used if "Full Height Carriage" is not checked.

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The gap between the top of the carriage and the underside of the top tube of the second-to-last stage when the carriage hits its hard stop.

Only used if "Full Height Carriage" is not checked.

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This is the distance between the top of an elevator stage and the top of the previous stage when the elevator is retracted. Typically the design of an elevator requires that a higher stage sit higher up than the previous stage (as opposed to being flush at the top) when the elevator is fully retracted.

With careful design, an elevator can be designed to retract until all stages are flush. This results in a much more efficient use of height and increased stroke length. In that case, set this value to 0.

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The minimum distance that the stages will be overlapping (at the bottom) when the elevator is fully extended.

Cascading elevators will typically have some stages that will be overlapping more than this when extended. Continuous elevators treat this distance as a hard stop and will always extend far enough to reach this limit.

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The width of the tubing (or extrusion) as viewed from the front of elevator. Most elevators in FRC use 2in x 1in tubing or 1in x 1in tubing, the "tubing width" in both of those cases is 1in.

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The gap between the bottom of the bottom tube of one stage and the top of the bottom tube of the previous stage when the elevator is fully retracted.
Cascading-Rigged
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Cascading elevators can be driven by cables/cords, chains, or belts (we'll call them all "cables" for brevity). They use multiple lifting "cables" to move all of the stages. The first stage is driven by the motor(s) with any method that is desired (winch, chain sprocket, rack and pinion, lead screw, etc.). The higher stages are each driven off of the previous stage in a way that causes each stage to move (relative to the previous) the same amount at all times

Cascading elevators can also be equipped with retracting "cables" on each stage (tied to the previous stage) to provide powered motion in the downwards direction.

Cascading elevators are more complex than continuous elevators, but are more forgiving in the implementation. They generally have less stroke length than a continuous elevators and cause the COG of the robot to be higher throughout the motion of the elevator.
Continous-Rigged
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Continuously-rigged elevators use a single lifting cable to move all of the stages. The uppermost stage moves first and none of the lower stages move until that stage has reached its end stop.

Continuous elevators can also be equipped with a retracting cable to provide powered motion in the downwards direction. This cable is just connected to the last stage and routed straight down.

Continuous elevators are mechanically simpler than cascading elevators and can provide addition stroke length, however they are typically difficult to implement in practice due to various sources of binding that are inherant to the design.