Minibot Custom Wheels
 

We're considering making custom wheels for our minibot.
For the (body of the) wheel: PVC or polycarbonate?
For the tread: surgical tubing (sliced open) or non-slip pad?

What do you guys recommend?

Re: Minibot Custom Wheels
 

What kind of resources do you have? Mills, Lathes, hand tools? etc.

When you say PVC, are you talking about PVC piping or solid chunks of PVC machined down?

For tread, why don't you experiment with both, or however many combinations you can find and see what works best!

Good luck!

-Brando

Re: Minibot Custom Wheels
 

We've got mills, lathe, and hand tools...
By PVC I mean solid chunks of PVC machined down.
We probably will end up experimenting with all the options...

Thanks for the advice, and good luck to you too this season!!

Re: Minibot Custom Wheels
 

The PVC allowed in <R92> is pipe only (and now fittings, per Team Update):
You couldn't machine wheels from other PVC stock, but you could cut them from PVC pipes.

Re: Minibot Custom Wheels
 

The wording is slightly ambiguous. They need to add a "pipe" after "PVC" if that's what they mean. By my interpretation (which is probably wrong), it seems that PVC of any sort would be allowed, while only pipe-shaped CPVC is allowed. If we really aren't allowed PVC bar stock (as I suspect), that's rather disappointing. I suppose polycarbonate would work just as well though, but it's more expensive.

Re: Minibot Custom Wheels
 

David, talk to the English teachers about sentence diagramming. It might help your understanding of this one.

The mathematical grouping equivalent is (PVC or CPVC) (Pipe and fittings).

If it were PVC or (CPVC pipe) and fittings, there could be some issues...

Or worse, PVC, but (CPVC pipe and fittings)...

Re: Minibot Custom Wheels
 

And Q&A has weighed in...

http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=16602

PVC sheet is out on the Minibot.