Looking for info on expandable shooter wheel

[mithril865]

I'm looking for information on an expandable wheel a team was using on their shooter at Championships this weekend. It was white with spiral supports that extended from the hub to the outer wheel and it expanded as the wheel rotated. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture nor did I write down the team number. Our team is doing an off season project and a wheel like the one I saw would be perfect. I've tried google searches for expandable wheel/casters, shock-absorbing wheels/casters, and have come up empty. This is the closest I've found...

Thanks in advance!

[Akash Rastogi]

Do you recall which team?

Was it like this? http://www.mcmaster.com/#2498K12

Not necessarily that durometer, but the shape and color match. Mcmaster says the Nitrile one is off-white in color.

You might have seen 2590 or 2168. For more information, check out the comments in this thread. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/38951

[MrForbes]

I'm pretty sure that white one from McMaster is the one you're looking for....I heard someone one telling me that their expandable white shooter wheels were from McM. I don't recall the team, though, there were 400 of them there!

[Mk.32]

Deleted

[Mike Marandola]

Originally Posted by Mk.32

Not to be the party pooper, but I don't see any belay ropes on the climb? I thought they were required on all pyramidal testing on the practice fields?

Wrong thread?

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Do you recall which team?

Was it like this? http://www.mcmaster.com/#2498K12

I believe this is the same kind of wheel our team tested out after our last regional (we had bought it previously but never used it). For us, our tests concluded that while it did make an effective shooter wheel, it had a longer RPM recovery time between shots and did not aim as consistently as our Andymark pneumatic wheel that we had been using throughout the season.

Originally Posted by Mk.32

Not to be the party pooper, but I don't see any belay ropes on the climb? I thought they were required on all pyramidal testing on the practice fields?

Umm... what?
Wrong thread perhaps?

[mithril865]

I believe that's what I was looking for.

Thanks for the quick response.

[Pjohn1959]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Was it like this? http://www.mcmaster.com/#2498K12

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That's the one. If you look closely at the current world champion's robot, team 1477, that's the wheel they used.

I saw them use it on their practice bot just before Championships. After shooting 50 or so disks, it showed no signs of use. They even had to tune their banebots back to 50%. It provided a lot of grip and a consistent shooting platform.

[Patrick Flynn]

I know 1923 was also running one of these wheels. Mike and Justin did an interview with then where they discuss the details of the wheel. It should be up on YouTube in the next couple of days or you could PM one of their members.

[scottandme]

The wheels are made by Fairlane (http://www.fairlaneproducts.com/default.asp). We bought ours from McMaster (3/4" bore, 4" diameter, 2" thick, 35A durometer nitrile). Fairlane's site is a little rough, they actually sell them in multiple materials, bores, and durometers - we were able to custom order 1/2" bore from McMaster, even though we ended up using the 3/4" bore model. It seems like Fairlane sells their products online through fixtureworks.net, they have a complete listing of the available options.

They do show wear, it just takes a long time. We've been running the same pair since week 2 of build season, and the bottom edge started to show wear at MAR CMP. Performance didn't seem to change too drastically - subjectively it looked like we had a bit more variation in shot height at World CMP, but I'll have to look at the video from early in the season to see if that's just my imagination. Either way, that was several thousand shots into the season (4 weeks of build season, 67 matches, unbagging time, etc), so they're certainly worlds better than the banebot wheels.

I know that 2016 used the 1" thick version and had to replace them regularly. As far as I know, they are the only other team that had them during build season.

Our team might put together a more detailed analysis of our shooter (amongst other things) later this year, but I can answer any general questions here.

[Peter Matteson]

Gus (228) and Aluminum Falcons (2168) used the expandable wheel. I'm sure they would be glad to share the info once they see this thread.

[James Tonthat]

We used them on our shooter, after whipping together a quick prototype. We were super impressed with their performance. Rebound time on the shot was a problem but the consistency was awesome. For us, they expanded to about 5.5" from a 4" wheel at 5100 rpms. We bought the 1" bore version and bought a 6061 aluminum tube from McMaster that was 1" OD and 1/2" ID, cleaned up the bore a bit, broached it, sanded some flats for the set screws to seat on and they were ready for use. They do eventually show wear though, I think we can put in about 800 shots or so before they start degrading.

Edit: Also thanks to Justin Foss from 2168 for helping us out with this. With the data he gave us, we were full court shooting on the first revision.

[RyanCahoon]

Originally Posted by Patrick Flynn

I know 1923 was also running one of these wheels. Mike and Justin did an interview with then where they discuss the details of the wheel. It should be up on YouTube in the next couple of days or you could PM one of their members.

Here's the link for anyone who's curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D5HSlBqaPg

[Chi Meson]

The link up there through McMaster's is correct. "Nitrile." Those are the wheels.

"Made of Marshmallow and Magic."

[fb39ca4]

What sort of material are they made from?