Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisfl
Have you been successful with #25 chain in the drivetrain? I'm working on one right now and it is spaced for #25 chain.
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Yes, for the past 3 years. Our 2013 and 2014 bots used the team221 COTS side rails with tensionable outer bearing blocks. Our 2015 bot used a chain in tube design that we developed during the summer of 2014. You can download the CAD models, including the chain in tube design, at
FRCdesigns.com.
I presented our original idea for the
Quick Build Drivetrain at the Hampton Roads FRC Summit in 2012. I gave an update and a description of our
West Coast drive train development program at the 2014 FRC Summit.
Correction: While our 2015 bot used WCD side rails, it technically was not a true a west coast drive. We took the center mounted gearbox and moved it to the end opposite the crate stack. Then we omitted the center wheels and replaced the front Colson wheels with omnis. (Pics in the picasa galleries linked in my sig.) The internal power transmission components, however, are identical to the West Coast drive train we developed over the summer of 2014. This fixed-spacing chain-in-tube design, won us two regionals and took us to the quarter-finals at CMP with literally zero maintenance. I think that once we got to St. Louis someone said, "Hey, shouldn't we put some more grease on the gearbox gears?" Caveat: the 2015 game was super easy on drivetrains, requiring neither high speed nor pushing power.