View Single Post
  #1   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 03-03-2012, 22:31
Whateveryousay's Avatar
Whateveryousay Whateveryousay is offline
Team 1683 Techno Titans
AKA: Tony Chen
FRC #1683 (Techno Titans)
Team Role: Mechanical
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Rookie Year: 2010
Location: Georgia
Posts: 51
Whateveryousay is an unknown quantity at this point
Re: Where to find aluminum sprockets?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sb28000 View Post
I've got to say that I don't have any specific recommendations for vendors as I've never searched for that particular part - But one thing to consider is how much weight you can actually save by doing this, and "weigh" that in comparison to the amount of time/effort/money it may take to find, and then swap out, the aluminum sprockets. Unless you have a lot of them of your robot, it may not provide a significant reduction in weight (If you only have, say, 8 sprockets on your drivetrain). You may want to look into some other places to cut weight, such as switching to lighter bolts (or using rivets), or removing/lightening any nonessential parts, or using thinner materials. There are plenty of threads about other ideas for making your robot lighter (Like using the new(er) plastic pneumatics tanks, as opposed to the metal Clippard tanks -if you're even using pneumatics. That's just one idea though). However, if you do decide its worth pursuing to switch the sprockets, best of luck in finding hubs/sprockets that will work for you!
Thanks, we only needs to swap 6 sprockets out, but we are currently using the McMaster stainless stell black finish sprockets, they are HEAVY, so yeah, we can save about 2 pounds by swaping all of them out, we are only 3 pounds overweight at this points. We did place an order on those plastic tanks and new compressor to save weight, but we would like to be a bit safer, you know just in case
__________________
2011 Peachtree Regional Innovation in Control Award
2011 Peachtree Regional Semifinalist
2010 Peachtree Regional Champion
2010 Peachtree Regional Creativity Award
2008 Peachtree Regional Finalist
2007 Bayou Regional Champion
2006 Peachtree Regional Finalist
2005 Peachtree Regional Quarterfinalist
Reply With Quote