Quote:
Originally posted by Andy Baker
Dave,
I know EXACTLY how you feel. My fellow teammates and I are growing very tired of treads. For the little advantage they give in traction and climbability, they also give many headaches, breakdowns and inefficiencies. Maybe we should start a "I hate treads" club.
Note to any designer wanting to do treads: be careful, they are very difficult to deal with. Team 45 has been doing treads for 4 out of the last 5 years (3 metal, one timing belt), and there are many issues to deal with. In my opinion, treads are not worth the effort.
Andy B.
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Holy Cow! I thought I would never hear this coming from Andy!
Don't give up - FIRST might just not be the same without a techno-tank drive. If I may be so bold, let me suggest something. Carefully analyze the problems you are having with your design, list it's strengths and weaknesses, and then decide if you can do something to overcome it weaknesses without compromising its strengths. This is what engineering is all about!
Our story:
In 2002 we did 4-wheel crab. It had some advantages and some disadvantages. Just ask some of my team mates - I was so frustrated by the disadvantages that I declared towards the end of the season that "we will never do 4-wheel crab again". So what did we do in 2003? We did 4-wheel crab. We simply determined that its advantages were too valuable to pass up. So, we just had to figure out a way to overcome the disadvantages/weaknesses. We did and we are glad we did.
Raul