Thread: AndyMark Plaction Wheels
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Unread 28-03-2010, 16:50
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M. Mellott M. Mellott is offline
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AKA: Mike Mellott
FRC #3193 (Falco Tech), FRC #48 (Delphi E.L.I.T.E.), FTC #9980 (FMF)
Team Role: Engineer
  
Join Date: Sep 2006
Rookie Year: 2003
Location: Austintown, OH
Posts: 275
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Re: AndyMark Plaction Wheels
It seems like everyone is using the Andymark wheels with the standard 1" wide tread, but did anyone besides teams 3193 and 48 use PVC spacers to widen the 6"-diameter wheels to 2"? We had success with them using black nitrile treads from McMaster in our 8-wheel drive, but we too had issues with the tread coming off when we tried using staples like the original AM treads. Two 1/8" rivets (1/2" long) drilled into the PVC spacer worked great.

However, we found another issue: when mounting sprockets, you have to watch how hard you tighten the bolts on the hubs, as there is no support between the hubs because of the spacer. We found a couple cracked spokes, and we found one wheel had all six spokes one one side broken through after our last quarter-final match in Cleveland. If...I mean when we use these again, we'll definitely look to add spacers at the center of the wheel so that the hubs are not squeezed and stress isn't transferred to the spokes.
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