Re: New AndyMark Wheels
 

My assumption is that the desire to switch the kop frame to direct drive was to make it harder for teams to not finish matches driving from chain failure. Making the outer axles live axle does nothing to benefit this.

So, to do this cleanly Andymark needs a new KOP wheel that's live axle and cheap. No sense in recreating the outer wheels (which are dead axle), so use the HiGrips.

As for the difference in tread, just trying stuff out I'd guess. Maybe the HiGrips will be sold with such tread as well.

Re: New AndyMark Wheels
 

Could the hex version have a recess machined into the flat side to insert a bearing? If you use this in combination with the 2013 KOP belt pulleys - they already have a bearing recess.

Re: New AndyMark Wheels
 

Or, you know, the KitBot could be all live axle. Probably not... but you never know.

Re: New AndyMark Wheels
 

Anyone else having issues importing the STEP to Solidworks?

The model is still usable but it has a couple errors, and I'm a perfectionist so it bothers me endlessly. Attempting to heal them didn't work, might just go back and see if I can manually fix it later.

Re: New AndyMark Wheels
 

Out of curiosity, I checked out the model, and it doesn't look like this would be all that easy to do. The flat face's thickness is about .15" (according to the model) and the round portion that holds the hex bore over the wheels width is ~.9" diameter - so using either an R6 or R8 bearing looks to be a bit unfeasible.

With that being said, if you really wanted to use these in a dead axle setup, you should be able to get away with taking one of the wheels with an 8mm ID Bore, and opening the bore up to 1/2" ID (round) and then pressing 1/2" OD, 3/8" ID bushings in. It's worth doing the load calculations for the specific bushing you'd use, but at a glance, it seems like it'd be okay.

Re: New AndyMark Wheels
 

Sorry for being slow to get back here -- kinda busy in the lab today. :o

I got two wheels with hex bore. Rigged up a VexPro hex test shaft on some bearings resting in v-blocks, and an indicator to measure face runout near the outer edge of the black plastic. TIR was about 0.015 inch and I think some of that was caused by sloppy internal clearances in the bearings. These wheels appear to run pretty true.

I have not made a traction test set-up yet. Materials appear very similar to those used in other AM wheels that have been included in FRC kits for last several years, so I anticipate similar CoF. Interesting that the treads are crowned, rather than flat or dished as many other AM KoP wheels have been. This has me thinking they might be useful on the corners of a 6WD or 8WD set-up, with very little mid-wheel drop required.