Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

I will confess, we should have turned the end of the shaft down to 1/2 round and avoided using a hex bearing in this particular setting. Lessons for next year... :)

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

secrets secrets are no fun unless they're shared with everyone :(

We wrecked 3 or 4 bearings this year and I had assumed it was due to bad implementation. It probably still was, but it's nice to know about new and improved hex bearings we can buy to fashion a throne alongside the 3 ft pieces of 1/2" hex shaft y'all sell.

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

Did one of these bearing failures occur during a chicks in charge match that my team was in against you guys? Those matches were quite aggressive. I think I remember watching the shaft pop out of your polycarb intake when everyone was mashing up on the field. Our intake suffered some damage in those matches with a substantial dent in our intake frame. Actually, now that I think of it, our chicks in charge matches had a lot of intakes hanging outside of frame perimiters, which caused a few tangles.

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

I can confirm the first failure was during the "Chicks in Charge" matches.
The second failure was shortly after that and might have been there very next match.
Both failures occurred while the pickup was outside the frame perimeter.

Honestly, I am VERY impressed that these failures never happened in all of the matches BECA has played in this year. The torsional load on those bearings when the poly flexes back and forth has to be fairly extreme. That is something these bearings are really not designed for. Maybe a floating bearing setup if something like this is needed in the future? Maybe something like this?

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

The v2 Hex bearings are now in stock,

http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/ha.../bearings.html

-Aren

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

I actually disagree... seems like the intake would actually likely have significantly higher impact loads (but probably smaller steady, radial loads).

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

On our drive trains, we have shattered these hex bearings two seasons in a row. Its great that vex has a redesigned option now. The part of the bearing that failed on our drives was the corner where the steel was a bit thin due to the hex.

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

We didn't break any in 2013, we just broke so many this year it seemed like both years!

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

Are the Vexpro V2 hex bearings the same as andymarks HD hex one? There is a fairly significant price difference.
-Ronnie

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

I have a feeling they are not.

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

Both are improved hex bearings with what seems like similar if not the same improvements. You can look at and compare the new AM Hex HD bearing thanks to Richard Wallace's post here with the new VP Hex bearing V2, found on their website.

If I were to guess I would say the price difference is based off of where the bearing is manufactured. Still, I'd rather just use round bearings.

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

For reference, the pdf image that I posted in another thread comparing old and new 1/2 inch hex FR8 bearings showed parts from AndyMark. The HD bearing is one that I ordered a couple of weeks ago, while VexPro was out of stock.

By my measurement, the inner race outside diameter of the AndyMark HD bearing is 0.76 inch, which matches the value shown under the heading "Hex Bearing Update" at the bearings page of the VexPro web site.

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edit: I see Andrew beat me to one of the points above. To add a technical point, it makes sense that AM and VP would arrive at the same inner race outside diameter for more durable R8 hex bearings. This is because the improvement requires decreasing ball diameter, and bearing balls come in discrete standard diameters. So it is very possible that AM and VP are getting similar bearings from different sources.

The price difference will sort itself out. Markets are wonderful things.

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

Except for when you order hex bearings on AndyMark and get shipped VexPro hex bearings inside a VexPro package inside an AndyMark package. True story.

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

I still can't believe that actually happened.

Re: pic: Hex Bearings
 

Agreed, where's the trollooollloll?