Custom rollers
 

We are looking at making some custom rollers this year. I was looking at team 254 intake roller from last years and was wondering what material they used to cover the wheel and how they attached it. Also what they used for the roller itself. Does anyone have any advice on this

Re: Custom rollers
 

See this thread.

Re: Custom rollers
 

This got my hopes up I was thinking this meant custom mecanum rollers...

Re: Custom rollers
 

2̶̶̶5̶̶̶4̶̶̶,̶ ̶a̶l̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶33 and a few others, used abrasion-resistant gum rubber tubing. They slid it on using compressed air but you can also use a solvent. The rubber tubing is slid onto a roller made of either aluminum of PVC with bearings or bushings pressed into the ends.

Edit: See Cory's post below.

Re: Custom rollers
 

If you want a custom roller, try colson wheels. They get fantastic grip on everything.

Re: Custom rollers
 

Thanks for the great responses. Does anyone have a video or anything of how to put the abrasion-resistant gum rubber tubing on?

Also how much smaller do you make the tube then the wheel?

Re: Custom rollers
 

We love using these: http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-po...tubing/=vf6xg9

It's a great pseudo-plastic rubber that has good grip on just about everything FIRST can throw at you.

Re: Custom rollers
 

I'm not sure exactly what they used but its some form of hollow rubber tubing from McMaster I believe. We tried a test this year with something similar. McMaster #86805K28.

We pressed the tubing onto 1/2in OD shaft which held nicely.

Re: Custom rollers
 

You could look at videos of people installing golf grips for a comparable analogy. You can use either an air compressor or slide them on with solvent, as mentioned before.

Re: Custom rollers
 

We used surgical tubing, not the gum rubber tubing. Went onto a 1" OD .063" wall tube with plugs welded into the end to drive it from.

Re: Custom rollers
 

thanks. I will give that a try. Was there anything special about the surgical tubing?

Re: Custom rollers
 

If you want to slide or stretch rubber over a tube, a little warm water with a small amount of hand soap helps it slide on nice and once dry, it will stay put.

Re: Custom rollers
 

One thing to note about the surgical tubing we used last year:

We regularly cleaned the rollers (and the rubber shooter flywheel) with a microfiber rag and 70% iso-propyl alcohol in between matches so as to get rid of any dirt or grease that stuck to the roller, improving the grip of the rollers/wheel on the balls significantly.