Traction

[archiver]

Posted by Joe Martino at 1/17/2001 5:05 PM EST


Student on team #481, D.A.R.T., from De Anza High School and None :-(.



If a team wanted to drag a 100+ pound strecher with a robot in it, they would need very good traction on their wheels, the bare wheelchair wheels dont seem to cut it. My team was thinking about drilling screws in the bottom of the wheels, but it may tear up the carpet. Just wondering if i can hear some outside opinions on this....

[archiver]

Posted by Tom S. at 1/17/2001 6:49 PM EST


Student on team #177, The Bobcats, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells & ONSI.


In Reply to: Traction
Posted by Joe Martino on 1/17/2001 5:05 PM EST:



Joe-

You may want to take a look at this thread:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/wwwboard/...2001/1023.html

Amazing how long it took me to find that in the archives... seemed like i was reading it just a few days ago.. but it was on page 30 of the archives!!

Tom

[archiver]

Posted by Joe Johnson at 1/17/2001 9:30 PM EST


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.


In Reply to: Re: Traction
Posted by Tom S. on 1/17/2001 6:49 PM EST:



Last year we had studs on our wheels as a means of
making up for lack of weight on our wheels. If you
have an excited driver you can easily start tearing up
the carpet. We did okay in our FIRST competitions, but
in the after-glow competitions with less experienced
drivers we shreaded some carpet (sorry hosts). I doubt
we would have been able to keep the studs had this
happened in a real FIRST competition.

Read Dodd Stacy's message on tires and FIRST's
rules/tests from a few days ago.

Joe J.

[archiver]

Posted by Adam Krajewski at 1/18/2001 8:12 PM EST


Engineer on team #221, MI Roboworks, from Michigan Tech and Houghton Area Schools and Meritor Automotive.


In Reply to: Keep weight on wheels or you'll be sorry
Posted by Joe Johnson on 1/17/2001 9:30 PM EST:



Last year, due to our robot being front wheel drive and having most of the weight in the back, we had MANY problems with traction. We tried cutting grooves into the wheel chair wheels, knurled aluminum wheels, double cog timing belt attached to the wheel chair wheels, and various types of conveyer belt wraped around aluminum wheels. The best, we found, was the conveyer belt. We were given some hay-bailer belt by a team from Oaklahoma (I can't recall the team number), which seemed to work the best. The knurked aluminum wheels seemed to work well, but in order to keep them from ripping up the carpet, the knurls had to be very small, which didn't work very well. Make sure if you try the conveyer belt to test to see if it wears too quickly or leaves black skid marks all over the carpet.

Adam

[archiver]

Posted by Raul at 1/18/2001 9:29 PM EST


Engineer on team #111, Wildstang, from Rolling Meadows & Wheeling HS and Motorola.


In Reply to: Getting more traction
Posted by Adam Krajewski on 1/18/2001 8:12 PM EST:



Conveyor belts are illegal this year. Only Timing belts are allowed.

Raul


: Last year, due to our robot being front wheel drive and having most of the weight in the back, we had MANY problems with traction. We tried cutting grooves into the wheel chair wheels, knurled aluminum wheels, double cog timing belt attached to the wheel chair wheels, and various types of conveyer belt wraped around aluminum wheels. The best, we found, was the conveyer belt. We were given some hay-bailer belt by a team from Oaklahoma (I can't recall the team number), which seemed to work the best. The knurked aluminum wheels seemed to work well, but in order to keep them from ripping up the carpet, the knurls had to be very small, which didn't work very well. Make sure if you try the conveyer belt to test to see if it wears too quickly or leaves black skid marks all over the carpet.

: Adam