Quote:
Originally Posted by Cory
I don't understand why I keep hearing references to "outside of a tube". What difference does it make? There should be no difference in how well the shaft is supported in either scenario and your shaft deflection is basically nonexistent in both scenarios.
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Its probably stemming from people seeing the walls of the tube acting as an insurance policy in that if the chain does stretch or it wasn't machined right there's a larger tolerance and the tube will keep the chains on the sprockets. Outside the tube, not so much and if the frame isn't that rigid it gets even better.
When we did C-C #35 in a plate drive in 2014 we got a lot of funny looks talking to people because for teams using the pre-2014 kitbot it was a norm to have tensioners integrated and most mentors work with machines with tensioned chains so therefore the robot needs it too. Some people talked to us like we found some type of black magic thinking every chain needed to have a built in tensioner.
You are also very correct that having proper alignment on chains is crucial as well and is often overlooked.
If you have the ability to build your drivebase with C-C (chains or belts) its a great opportunity to lose a few parts, headache, and possible failure points. There is plenty of time between now and kickoff to design and build one as a prototype.