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Originally Posted by Gregor
What if the inner flange faced outward, and the gearbox was mounted to the flat face?
That would work perfectly well. You could also make your chassis 5” tall to accommodate the gearbox between the upper and lower flanges. I’ve also designed a couple of drivetrains with the gearbox actually inside the wheel well and only the motors sticking out into the machine. There are lots of ways to mount a gearbox without cutting through any flanges.
What do you recommend to be the optimum rock?
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This directly relates to how torsionally stiff your chassis is. The older Andymark kitbots were very flexible which in turn meant that more rock was needed to turn (so opposite outside wheels couldn’t touch the ground.) In general, the more tortionally stiff you can make your chassis the less drop you can safely have. 1/8” is a general rule of thumb although if you’re using wide wheels 3/16th may be a better choice. There are also ways to design in methods to change your drop so you can best adjust it to what you need in season. If you’re interested in something like this let me know and I’ll try to explain what we do more in depth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Theta
Looks pretty solid. I don't know how much I can add to what has been stated above. I do have a general question though about drivetrains designed in this manner that I've been hoping to get answered. How do you guys attach your bumpers to the sides of the robot? We have only ever used bolts and T nuts set into the wood, and I have been hoping we can take our drivetrains more in the direction of one like this.
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The fun and cool thing about bumpers is that they are free weight! If you do your bumper mounts right you can significantly strengthen your chassis for essentially no weight. A really strong way to do this is to mount two 1/8” think 1” L angle along the length of your bumpers. Then you can pick up that angle along the top and side of your chassis. To really strengthen your chassis though, it’s best to make one or two really solid bumper pieces that just fit around your robot. Making the corners of the bumpers strong is the key here. Again, there are many ways to do this, it’s more a team preference thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ttldomination
I've often wondered this, but what's the benefit of having the outer rail face flange outwards?
From my understanding, it would only complicate bumper mounting and other minor things, but the benefit is lost to me.
- Sunny G.
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I guess another question you could ask is what is the benefit of having it face inwards? Having the rail face outwards allows for us to put stuff including dead axle mounts, decorative body panels, and our lower bumper mounts within that outer 1” cavity without worrying about being outside the bumper zone. Additionally you decrease the length of your axles by one inch reducing the chance of it being bent by a hard impact. All in all though, it comes down to preference and the way your team like to do things.
Regards, Bryan