Instead of Castors ....

[shyra1353]

Hi

our robot is finally built and we were driving it for the first time last night .. or i should say trying to because we realized we had to take a part off the bottom of our chassis because it was causing too much friction.

i am wondering what the white-dome shaped things that were seen at the kickoff used on the chassis.

sorry im not being very descriptive but i do not know exactly what it is i am looking for .. only that they are white ..they go on the bottom of the chassis ... they can be used instead of castors ..

if you have the name of them and possibly a place where they can be bought (home depot ??) that would greatly appreciated.

thank you so much and good luck during the last 6 days of build!

shyra

[Kevin Sevcik]

I don't think they were dome shaped, but I could be wrong. At any rate, I'm sure they were skids made out of teflon. making your own wouldn't be too terribly difficult. go to mscdirect.com or mcmaster.com and order some etched teflon sheet. then you can just epoxy the etched side to a flat piece of aluminum that you can bolt to your robot.

[ZACH P.]

They may also have been made of Delron, which is a hard, white plastic that is very slippery. You can most probably order it in sheet for, and then attach it to something, or you can order a block of it and cut it to shape. Im not exactly sure about suppliers, but you can check Mcmaster, MSC, and im sure a plastics supply company would have it.

[Stephen Kowski]

go to home depot....pick up some "magic sliders" they are on the same aisle as caster wheels, you got a few days left, waiting around for msc or someone else to ship to you will only delay you further.....get something for the here & now.....

[Rob Colatutto]

The skids featured in kickoff were made of teflon. Comming from team 263, I have much experiance in this field since for 2001 2002 and 2003 we had 2 wheel drive robots with 2 (or 4) teflon skids strikingly similar to the ones in kickoff. :)
They work extremely well for quick turning and as a slider for climbing things such as....maybe a step? We used them in 2001 to pull the back of our robot up over the 3 inch step under the 14" bar and never had a problem. If you are to use teflon skids, I would suggest reinforcing them with aluminum behind them to better support the wieght of your robot and if they'll be involved in climbing its always a good idea.