Warning to teams using a certain incline conveyor belting.
 

The Wedge-Topped Incline Conveyor Belting that can be found at Mcmaster-Carr will get chewed out in competition.

We used this setup by gluing the tread to 8 in skyway wheels and after thursday and Friday of competition, the wedged ribbing was completely removed.

Fortunately we brought a spare set of wheels, but replacing them will be a hastle at every competiton.

The ramp is a cheese grater, regardless of how you drive on it, if your robot's drive is strong enough to spin your wheels on the grate, then this particuliar belting will just shred itself up.

I would reccomend finding a harder tread if you are using these wheels or make sure you have spares available.

I will try to post a picture of our wheels after the two days, waiting on a digital camera...

We had pretty good luck with the "rough top" from McMaster. We used medium urethane adhesive (and a couple of screws at the seams) to hold it onto the wheel, and we never had any trouble with the belt or the texture coming off. It was pretty amusing to see all the rubber that ended up under the ramp at the end of the day. I've never heard a vacuum cleaner make that much noise before!

I have to agree with you about the treads..

I helped break down the field at the VCU competition saturday night... and i cannot tell you how many pieces of tire rubber there were under the ramp when we finally got it all apart. Must have been at least 50 big shreds and many more smaller pieces...

Whatever wheels you use,...make sure you have spares..


Gabe Goldman

ASME VCU FIRST STUDENT COORDINATOR

Our wheels (same ones used by MVRT) came off completely during one round, and the screws ripped out. Don't know how it happened.