← All tools

Cylinder Force Calculator

How hard a pneumatic cylinder pushes, and what pressure a given force would need. Force comes from bore and pressure alone. Stroke does not change it.

Inputs

Bore is the inside diameter of the barrel, not the rod and not the outside. It is the only dimension that changes the force.

psi

Competition rules cap this at 100 psi. Real systems also sag below the regulator setting during a fast sequence.

Only count cylinders pushing the same way on the same mechanism.

Extending uses the full piston face. Retracting loses the area the rod occupies, so it is always the weaker direction.

lbf

Used only for the last two results: what pressure this force would take, and whether that is legal.

Results

Force per cylinder

—lbf

Force per cylinder

—N

Total force

—lbf

Total force

—N

Piston area

—mm²

Pressure for the force you need

—psi

Within the 100 psi limit?

—

Pressure needed, against the rule limit—

of the 100 psi cap

Turn the pressure up

Turn the pressure up
100 psi

A cylinder cut open, not to scale, with each dot in the barrel standing for 5 psi of air. The arrow is the total force out of your cylinders, and the dashed mark is the force you said you need. Force grows in a straight line with pressure, and nothing about the stroke appears anywhere: only the piston's area and the air pushing on it. The solid red mark on the force line is what the competition limit of 100 psi can give.

How this is calculated

A cylinder is a piston in a tube. Air pushes on the face of the piston, and pressure is force spread over an area, so the force you get back is the pressure multiplied by the area it acts on.

force = pressure × piston area

That is the whole calculation. Everything below is unit conversion and consequences.

Two things that surprise people

  • Stroke does not appear. A 75 mm cylinder pushes exactly as hard as a 25 mm one at the same pressure. Stroke buys distance, not strength. It does cost air, which is what theair budget tool is for.
  • Neither does speed. Force is set by pressure and area. How fast the rod moves depends on flow (tube diameter, fittings, the valve), and a mechanism can be strong and slow at the same time.

Why retracting is weaker

On the way out, air pushes on the whole circle of the piston. On the way back it pushes on that circle minus the area the rod takes up, because the rod is in the way. Same pressure, less area, less force.

VEX does not publish the rod diameter, so this tool cannot tell you the exact retract force. It shows a range instead, from a thin rod to a thick one, and the honest answer is somewhere inside it. If your mechanism only works at the top of that range, it does not work.

What you will actually feel

The number here is the force at the rod with the pressure you typed holding steady. Three things eat into it on a real robot:

  • Pressure sags. Fire several cylinders quickly and the reservoir drops below the regulator setting. The last actuation in a sequence is the weakest.
  • Seals have friction. A few percent, more on a cold or dirty cylinder.
  • Geometry usually costs more than either. A cylinder mounted at an angle to the thing it moves delivers only the component of its force along the useful direction, and that can be a large loss.

Make a notebook page

Turns this calculation into a dated engineering notebook page: the setup, data, results, figures, working and sources, numbered and cited. You add the goal, the decision and the reflection in your own words, plus photos and sketches. Print it, paste it into Google Docs, or download a Word file or slides.

My notebook

Notebook page

More
Open My notebook

    This page

    Our own layouts

    A layout remembers how a page is set up: its type, its system, which parts print and which of your tables it uses. It never remembers a word, a number or a photo.

    Your team kept on this device
    Add someone to the team list
    Your words never written for you

    These are the parts a judge or teacher reads to see your thinking, so the page leaves them to you. Leave a box empty to get lined space for writing by hand. Start lines with "- " for a list. The notes under each box only count and point things out; they never change what you wrote.

    Rough notes

    Rough notes

    Rough notes

    Rough notes

    Rough notes

    Rough notes

    Rough notes

    Rough notes

    Rough notes

    The word counts can be measured against a target your team sets on My notebook. The reading level is Flesch-Kincaid grade level = 0.39 × (words ÷ sentences) + 11.8 × (syllables ÷ words) − 15.59. Syllables are counted by vowel groups, so the grade is an estimate of the school year the writing reads at. It says nothing about whether the writing is any good.

    One part at a time, with a clock. At the end of practice, while you remember it.
    How you tested your details

    Fill in what applies. These print as a small table under the method.

    Before and after

    Compare this calculation with a run you saved earlier on this tool (under “Saved runs”). The page shows what changed and by how much.

    A line through the data from your recorded table

    Pick two measured columns from the same table. The page plots them and draws the least-squares line, only across the range you measured.

    Robot log a CSV from the robot's SD card

    Load a CSV your robot saved. Pick the time column and up to three columns to plot, and type their units. Only those columns go on the page; the file stays on this device.

    Two versions' trials your data, compared

    Pick a column of recorded trials for each version, from this page or another saved page. The page shows both averages and a 95% range for the difference. The numbers are copied in when you pick them, so later changes to the other page don't change this one.

    Options compared your scores

    Score each option 1 to 5 on each criterion, and weight each criterion 1 to 5 by how much it matters. The page only multiplies and adds.

    Photos and sketches stay on this device

    Up to 4. Paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V, drop pictures here, or pick them. Photos are shrunk before they’re kept, and an unsaved page keeps them in its draft. Use Mark up to draw arrows, labels, dimensions and numbered callouts on a photo. Mark one photo Before and one After to print them side by side.

      Test plan written before testing

      Write this before you test: the question, what you expect with a number, and what result would make you drop the idea.

        Build steps our build

        One row per step, in order, so someone could rebuild from this page.

          Parts used our parts list

          Lengths in holes are also shown in inches between the end holes. Weights are only added up where you type them.

            Plan the cuts: packs every piece of one part (sizes in holes, or inches on the hole grid) onto whole sticks of the stock length you type.

            Ways it could fail our scores

            List the ways this could fail. Score how likely (1 to 5) and how bad (1 to 5); the page multiplies them and puts the biggest risks first.

              Designed against built our measurements

              What the CAD or the plan said, and what you measured on the robot. The tolerance is yours.

                Changes from the last version our changes

                What changed since the last version, why, and which result it was meant to move.

                  That page’s settings, results and first photo are copied in and set beside this page’s. The result each change should move is looked up on both pages.

                  Tasks our plan

                  What needs doing, who, and by when. Open tasks carry to the next meeting page until someone ticks them done.

                    The pages behind this idea our evidence

                    The pages in this notebook that show the idea being tried, measured or changed. A judge reading the claim can turn straight to them.

                      Time spent our hours

                      Who worked on this and for how long.

                        Session log what we did, as we did it

                        Notes taken during a session. The time comes from the clock when the note was taken; every word is yours.

                          Size limit does it fit?

                          Type the starting size limit from the current game manual, and the robot's size as designed or measured, in inches. The site doesn't store the limit, because it changes with the game.

                          What broke from your breakage log

                          The breakage log is on My notebook. Copy it onto this page as a table, as it stands now; later entries don't change this page.

                          CAD model which version this page is about

                          Paste a link to the model (Onshape, Fusion or anything else) and the name you use for this version. For Onshape, the page reads from the link whether it points at a saved version or a workspace that keeps changing. Nothing is fetched.

                          Your code
                          Comments notes for the team, not the page

                          A teammate or coach can leave a note here. Comments stay beside the page, travel with it in exports and links, and don't print unless you tick them under Include.

                            Sources you used besides this tool

                            Videos, other teams, manuals, people. The tool’s own sources are cited for you.

                              Sign-off
                              Include

                              Press a ? to see what an option is for, or read them all on How the notebook tools work.

                              What “The calculator’s figures” is for

                              The calculator’s own diagrams and charts, numbered as figures and drawn from your numbers. Judges look for pictures that explain a design.

                              What “How it was calculated” is for

                              The formulas and steps the calculator used, so a reader can check the arithmetic for themselves.

                              What “The calculator’s warnings” is for

                              Things the calculator flagged, such as a motor near stall. They’re quoted and credited to the calculator, so they never read as your conclusion.

                              What “The calculator’s notes” is for

                              The calculator’s plain-language notes on the result. Off at first, because they read like conclusions, and the conclusions on a page should be yours.

                              What “Lined space” is for

                              Ruled lines under any part you haven’t written yet, so a printed page can be finished by hand.

                              What “Writing space as” is for

                              The blank space for handwriting as ruled lines, a dot grid or quarter-inch squares. Dots and squares suit sketches and hand-drawn graphs.

                              What “A summary under recorded data” is for

                              The number of readings, the average, the spread, the lowest and the highest under each table you recorded, worked out from your numbers. It shows every run counted, not just the best one.

                              What “Words used” is for

                              A small box with the site’s one-line definitions of glossary terms the calculator used, for readers who don’t know them. It never looks at your own writing.

                              What “Robot at the time” is for

                              The Robot Profile as it was when the page was first saved, so weeks later you can tell which version of the robot a test was run on.

                              What “Long tables in full” is for

                              Long calculated tables printed complete on an extra page, instead of every few rows on the page itself.

                              What “Fit on one sheet” is for

                              Smaller type and shorter tables, aiming for one printed sheet. Use it when every entry in your notebook should be a single page.

                              What “Wider left margin” is for

                              A wider left edge, so the page can be hole-punched or bound without losing any words.

                              What “Larger type, for reading aloud” is for

                              Bigger print with more room between lines, for the team member who reads the page to a judge. It overrides Fit on one sheet.

                              What “Our rubric scores” is for

                              Your own scores against the rubric, on a sheet of their own, for checking a page before a judge does.

                              What “When this page was first saved” is for

                              The day the page was first saved, printed beside its date. It shows the notebook was kept while the work happened.

                              What “Teammates’ comments” is for

                              Prints the comments teammates left on this page at the end, marked as not part of the page. Off at first, because comments are notes for the team, not for judges.

                              What “Show every table and block” is for

                              Shows every table and block in the editor, not only the ones this type of page usually uses. It changes the editor, not the printed page.

                              Rubric check

                                This checks what is on the page, not how good it is. Clear, specific writing in your own words is what earns the top marks.

                                Preview, letter size

                                Write it now

                                Save this run, and compare

                                Keeps what is on screen so you can change something and see both sides of the change. Saved in this browser only, never uploaded.

                                Sources & assumptions

                                The 100 psi ceiling and the limit of 2 reservoirs are competition rules, not properties of the hardware.

                                Checked against VEX's own figure. VEX publishes 54 N of extend force for their 10 mm cylinder at 100 psi. Working it out from bore and pressure here gives 54.15 N, which agrees to within a third of a percent, so the formula on this page and the number on the packaging are the same claim.

                                The retract range is derived, not published: VEX does not give a rod diameter, so it is bounded by assuming a rod between a fifth and two fifths of the bore, which covers ordinary cylinder proportions.

                                Every source the site uses, and when it was checked

                                Where this goes next

                                Explore further on the full map

                                Where the answers on this page can be used, and which tools could have given you the numbers it asks for.

                                Comes after

                                Cylinder Pivot & Lever Forcegives you your cylinder forceCylinder Mount Findergives you your cylinder forcePneumatic or Motor?gives you your cylinder forceMatch Air Budget Calculatorgives you your air pressurePneumatic Mechanism Reliabilitygives you your air pressure

                                You are here

                                Cylinder Force Calculator

                                Where your answer goes

                                Cylinder Pivot & Lever Forcesee what turning force that becomes once it pushes on a leverbrings your cylinder force with itCylinder Mount Finderfind the anchor holes that make the most of that forcebrings your cylinder force with itMatch Air Budget Calculatorcheck that bore still leaves enough air for a whole matchuses your air pressure againPneumatic or Motor?compare that against what motors would give for the same jobuses your air pressure again

                                a number carries across the next question it raises

                                Keyboard shortcuts

                                Anywhere

                                Ctrl K or /
                                Search
                                T
                                Switch color theme
                                B
                                Bigger text, for a projector
                                F
                                Readable font, on or off
                                ?
                                This list

                                On a tool

                                S
                                Star or unstar it
                                C
                                Copy the results
                                L
                                Copy a link to these exact numbers
                                P
                                Print or save as PDF

                                Letter keys do nothing while you're typing in a box.