Quote:
Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi
This is not entirely true. An 8wd is easy to chain together even with the kit setup. You'll obviously need the additional hardware and parts. It is very easy to modify the kit chassis with little blocks of tubing bolted on with 3/8" bolt holes milled into them. Select your drop, select your wheel spacing, mill the blocks, bolt them on and you're good to go. You can also drill/mill new holes right into the kit frame, like 2495 did in 2012, but using blocks allows more room for error. I'm sure plenty of teams do this, but 2495's are the only pictures I can refer you to:
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For what it's worth, there's an even easier way to go about this than the method that Akash described, and that's to use standard COTS pillow blocks and drill the C-Base to match (if need be). Assuming the blocks are bolted to the frame, you can then shim them up or down with washers/shims/etc to tweak the drop or move them around for different configurations.
Or, if you've got an extra C-Base rail or two sitting around, you could cut it into a series of 3-4" long segments and use those as your 'axle' blocks. To be honest, if you're one of those teams that doesn't use the C-Base or has an extra one laying around, I'd suggest modifying it with axle blocks and trying different drive configurations to get a better first hand understanding of the pros and cons of each type.
Regardless of what you decide to pursue, I'd suggest emphasizing reliability over all else until you're confident that you can build a 'zero-failure' drive train. I've seen way too many teams chase performance at the expense of reliability and it's a really disheartening moment when an awesome drive train fails in the middle of a match - and it's usually the 'most important' match of the day...
For example, the 341's drive this year is probably the best drive train I have ever had a hand in over 8 seasons of FRC. It is by no means the lightest, or the fastest, or the coolest, but it's bullet proof. Over the course of 60+ matches on season and hours of off-season use, we've never had a single failure - and have not needed to do any maintenance work other than swapping wheels when they've worn too much.