#35 Chain Misalignment

[Spirator]

Hi, we've ordered parts for a robot chassis, but in the CAD, the sprocket midplanes are misaligned by 5mm maximum. Is #35 chain tolerant with misalignment and what effect will this misalignment have on out drivetrain?

[Ninja_Bait]

You should try to solve the CAD problem first, but I doubt half a centimeter will cause you to throw chain. It depends on the sprocket sizes and the center distance (the smaller those two things are, the higher the chances of throwing the chain are, I think).

[David Guzman]

It depends on how far apart the two sprockets are. If the two sprockets are pretty far spread out then you shouldn't have any issues. However miss alignment also causes inefficiency.

Since you are at the CAD stage of design, I suggest you try to make the two sprockets line up. This will increase the efficiency of your system.

[Spirator]

By lining up the sprockets, my wheels are misaligned and we don't have the materials to make spacers for the wheel bolts. If the wheels aren't aligned on the same plane, will it cause handling issues?

[dbeckwith]

By lining up the sprockets, my wheels are misaligned and we don't have the materials to make spacers for the wheel bolts. If the wheels aren't aligned on the same plane, will it cause handling issues?

It may make turning a bit more inefficient, but it shouldn't cause much of a problem (probably less than having the chains misaligned).

[Spirator]

Awesome. The inner rims of all 6 wheels are aligned, but the plaction wheel, being slightly thicker than the 2008 FIRST wheels make the centres misaligned. Otherwise, it's coming together nicely.

[Jared Russell]

I would rather have 5mm misaligned wheels than 5mm misaligned chain.

[thefro526]

By lining up the sprockets, my wheels are misaligned and we don't have the materials to make spacers for the wheel bolts. If the wheels aren't aligned on the same plane, will it cause handling issues?

It's not uncommon to see teams misaligned wheels to keep chain properly aligned. It can make your drive quirky, but it's not really the end of the world if you get appropriate practice in.

On the subject of spacers, you don't necessarily have to make them. We've used ~1/4" spacers made for #10 screws on AM wheels before without any problems. You should be able to get them from your local hardware store, or at least something close enough to work.

[JamesCH95]

We've run misaligned wheels in several robots with no adverse effects that I've ever noticed.

[CNettles11]

There's no way that you could stack washers under either the driver sprocket or the driven sprocket to align them? It's not pretty but it works.