Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

Our team is working on our robot again, and we're thinking about changing our manipulator to a roller claw. We want a design with wheels the have a major grip advantage over other wheels, and though about using small plaction wheels on our roller claw. What we would like to know is, do you think this is effective? Does anybody have any suggestions on wheels? We want to be able to use our manipulator to both suck in tubes from the floor, and spit them out a few feet. We want to spit them out in a possible close-range feeding strategy.

Thanks!

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

Vex wheels!

We used them...worked great.

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

Mcmaster offers both Urethane and Neopreme drive rollers in all sorts of sizes. They seem like a very viable option.

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

We used 3" diameter Tetrix wheels. Also for a less expensive alternative (that works pretty well) try this:

http://banebots.com/c/WHB

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

We used polycord for the actual grip on the tube, but for the initial contact surface we used banebots wheels. They wore a little bit, but they got even more grippy as they wore down. We were extremely pleased with how they performed.

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

I know the name isn't a popular one anymore, but banebots has wheels with more than enough grip to do the job. We used the blue 2 7/8" ones with a .500 diameter shaft. Work wonderfully once we got our second gearbox ( we ordered everything we got from them separate so we'd have at least most of the roller components ).

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

A problem with the plaction wheels is that is a lot of weight you are putting on the end of your manipulator. I would recommend using a piece of pvc with whatever tread you choose riveted on and if you decide to go with polycord in your claw you can use the tread to space out the polycord. We have done it this way on our bot this year and our bot from 09 but this year we used solid aluminum rod which is overkill when looking back on it. We also used the 1 inch pulley diameter polycord this year and while it worked fine I wouldn't recommend it becaue it has some issues with breaking while the two inch pulley diameter stuff never broke in our history of using it.

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

Speaking as the main designer on 694's claw, the setup we had was wonderful, but the spaghetti polycord was a last resort. We probably would have done way better with flat polycord.

With plaction wheels you need to make sure that your floor acquiring angle is high enough so that the tubes don't just get pushed around by the bottom wheel, because they won't be pulled up unless both wheels are in contact. Also, if you want to hang over the ubertube, those big wheels might create an obstacle.

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

I'd recommend using Banebots wheels: http://banebots.com/c/WHB

They're cheap, robust, easy to drive (1/2" Hex) and come in a variety of diameters.

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

We used urethane wheels from McMaster. They were really grippy and picked up the tubes very quickly.

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

Thirding the call for banebots wheels. Cheap, light, grippy, variety of mounting configurations...should work well for just about any variety of roller claw your going for.

-Brando

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

We were planning on using the small wheels if we did use plaction. However, there is still all of these ideas I'm seeing! I hear a lot about the banebots wheels, and the Urathane wheels from McMaster. The only thing is, which to choose?

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

Most roller claws this year use rollers in the 1"-2" range. The smallest an Andy Mark plaction wheel comes in is 4 inches.

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

2984 used the tall slim lego wheels. Worked well and was very lightweight.

Copied them off 100 in 2007.

Re: Using plaction wheels on a roller claw
 

Fourth, just buy extra because they have serious wear potential.