pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

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Out of curiosity, what is the thickness on the side plates. My guess is that it looks like 1/8.

Re: pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

Correct.

Re: pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

Looks very pretty. Seems like you chose to compromise a tremendous amount of strength for appearances though. I hope you are planning on using the bumpers as a structural member

Re: pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

Just out of curiosity, how come you guys went with belt drive mecanum rather than the normal direct drive?

Re: pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

From some collision tests and general observation, we don't see too much of a lack of strength. It's more than strong enough all-around - the only primarily weak point is at the "X" cut out on the long side-plates, but even that is fairly strong and will be stabilized further with standoffs yet to come.



When you say direct drive, do you mean direct attachment to a gearbox?
There were a few logistical reasons we didn't do that, but overall because we had the resources to make a belt drive right away.

Re: pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

Ya thats what I meant. So it wasnt for like CG or spacing for other things? It was just because you could?

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CG was one of the points that came up, actually (I forgot about it as I replied to your initial inquiry).

For our climbing mechanism we need as much weight center as possible, so gearboxes at both ends were a barrier.

But otherwise it was less of "we could" than "we could do it given what we have now, or wait to order more parts to perform the same function" so we went with what we had.

Re: pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

I'm going to quote my post in the other thread you posted with your practice robot.

Have you actually driven this yet? It is far too fast.

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Good to hear this statement. I could see definitely see some buckling of the material inwards with a solid hit from another robot at the right angle. You guys can keep the aesthetic appearance of the drive super nice with pocketing that benefits not only the appearance but functionality as well.

How are you planning on mounting your bumpers?

Re: pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

Using special shaped C-Channelish brackets that are ~ 4.8" high and about ~0.75" in. IE, it basically wraps around the side and front plates. Then the top and bottom of the C-Channel have a hole that mounts to the plate itself, and the long part to the bumper plywood.

Re: pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

I second this, are you planning on having a 30fps drive?

Re: pic: 3992 Drive Train
 

We had the previous drivetrain (the 80/20 one) driven, and it seemed to be fine.

I'm not particularly sure what the software team did, its possible that they set a cap on the motor output speed (such as setting 75% as a max for the motor controllers).

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But I can say for sure that it was nowhere near 30 fps.