[Nate Bloom]

I apologize in advance for this massive response, I just wanted to address everyone's questions/comments.

Originally Posted by LeelandS

Wow. I'm not much of a mechanic, but I find this concept EXTREMELY interesting. Very well done.

I love the potential versatility! Any chance this would get built so we can hear about it in practice?

Thank you, we will hopefully build this as an off-season project to test its viability, in which case I will post results.

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

Interesting Concept.

Would you always leave the extra bearing blocks inside the chassis or would you take them out to save weight? how easy is it to get at the transmissions and wheels if you wanted to change them?

I feel that it would be better to leave them in because it allows for faster changes between drives. I intentionally left out anything on the bottom of the robot, with the idea that we could raise the robot and have easy access to the necessary bolts under it. This would theoretically mean that switches could be very quick with a few people.

Originally Posted by Peck

What size wheels are max and min for each set up? how strong is it? how heavy is it?

as i see it right now, it's worth looking at for a test chassis or demo bot but not for an actual competition bot.

4WD: 4''-10''+
6WD: 4''-10''
8WD: 4''-8''
10WD: 4''-6''
Omni: 4''-8''+

I would be cautious about 4'' wheels however, due to the three inch bars. The strength is hard for me to predict, but it is entirely .125'' aluminum and bolts. The weight should be about 30 lbs, but there is a lot of estimation in that.

Right now it is very much in the conceptual stage, and hopefully we will build it as a test chassis to determine its viability.

Originally Posted by Gray Adams

Changing from hex to keyed shafts only reduces costs if you don't value your repair time at competition.

Really? Our team doesn't have much experience with direct drive, so I hadn't assumed much of a difference.

Originally Posted by jblay

I love this idea, very versatile. You can argue that the same things can pretty easily be done with the kit chassis.

Is there a reason for not centering the gearbox and motor assemblies? It's a minor thing but it makes your COG much nicer. Also I don't really see the need for the second omniwheel for strafing on the slide drive. I guess it makes you faster at it but not really worth the weight of the wheel, motor, and gearbox especially cause you can use a CIM somewhere else on your robot by not using it there.

I feel that the big advantage this has over the kit chassis is that it allows easier access and switching between these different drives without modifying the frame itself at all.

As far as the centering, it was simply difficult to accommodate for a dropped or flat wheel with the gearbox also attached.

I debated the second omni wheel for a while, so version 10 might be able to accept either 1 or 2 strafing omnis. That's definitely back up on the consideration list, thanks.