Last night after its first test run, we talked about adding shocks to the 5th and 6th wheel. Do you have any suggestions for shocks? Is there anything to watch out for?
Currently, we know that the four standard wheels (forward/backward driving) work excellent, so if the 5th and 6th wheels need to be remove it would not cause a functional problem. These wheels are for strafing which we would like to have for strategy and alignment purposes. In all truth we should have used mecanum drive system, but either one of these drive systems will achieve basically the same thing.
jax1488 - I’m not sure what kind of question you have about chain tension. The gearboxes are slotted and use to tight one chain, while we use a free spinning sprocket (as seen to the left of the gearbox) to tension the other chain.
GaryVoshol - Yes, the C-channel is for the bumper mounts and yes the bolts will be designed into the bumpers so that they will slide on and quickly tighten in place. We are approximately 26.5 x 36 inches as we cut our chassis for leeway.
As soon as we get the 5th and 6th wheel touching the ground properly, we’ll post a video (if anyone is interest I can also post a video of my other teams (FTC 25) 8 wheel omni drive system where one set of four wheels are used for speed while the second set was used for torque – it was amazing and work better than we ever taught it would).
vivek16 - I would love to see pictures. Currently we are only registered for the LA regional. Now that the teachers and students have been bit by the FIRST bug, everyone is hoping to earn a spot in Atlanta.
Thanks for all the comments.
