[Teched3]

We are still using the original plates as the drive is only used intermittently. We made up new plates by getting 16 mm pins, redrilling and reaming new holes in between the existing holes in the hardened plates (.001 undersized). The holes were drilled in between the existing holes after the short pins were removed, the longer pins pressed in and loctited in place, and the extra length protruding through the back of the plate ground off. The pins have a lead taper on them, whcih was reduced almost completely by this protrusion. Loctite will NOT take care of the poor mechanical fit caused by a tapered laser cut hole that was only partially reamed to the proper size. We are keeping track of the butterfly effect in the Double D hole in the plate by monitoring our drive system backlash carefully. We will likely install the new, modified hardened plates/pins on Thursday in Atlanta to ensure we do not have problems during the competition. The longer pins may still come undone, and destroy the transmission. there may only be a limited number of replacements available, if at all, at Championships. See my other posts regarding the Banebots availability.