pic: 222 VexRhino Drive

[team222badbrad]

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[Ryan_Todd]

Nice job!
If Lightning had gone for tank treads, it would almost certainly have looked a lot like what you guys have put together here.

We have grown rather fond of the built-in tensioning capabilities of VersaBlocks, though, so my first guess is that we would have stuck with those even if we had gone for tank treads... Unless.

Rhino treads are significantly longer than your average belts or chains, which means that you need an above-average travel distance on your tensioning mechanism (whatever it may be); this is certainly the reason for the stock Rhino chassis' screw-type tensioners. Looks like you've got more than an inch of travel on those slots up front; do you think that VersaBlock tensioning may have been insufficient for this application?

[camtunkpa]

Originally Posted by Skywalkar

Nice job!
If Lightning had gone for tank treads, it would almost certainly have looked a lot like what you guys have put together here.

We have grown rather fond of the built-in tensioning capabilities of VersaBlocks, though, so my first guess is that we would have stuck with those even if we had gone for tank treads... Unless.

Rhino treads are significantly longer than your average belts or chains, which means that you need an above-average travel distance on your tensioning mechanism (whatever it may be); this is certainly the reason for the stock Rhino chassis' screw-type tensioners. Looks like you've got more than an inch of travel on those slots up front; do you think that VersaBlock tensioning may have been insufficient for this application?

Unfortunately we don't really care for using the versa blocks for tensioning on drive train. We used the versablocks for tensioning our 2014 WCD and found that it was difficult to keep the chain properly tensioned and the wheels perpendicular to our frame.

In 2013 we used the team 221 frame system and really like their method of tensioning. This is the tensioning system our 2016 drive train mimics.

Yes there is plenty of room to travel the blocks...hopefully way more then we need, but it's our first time running treads so we aired on the side of caution and made large slots.

[Joe G.]

I like it! I feel like a lot of teams are allowing themselves to become locked into a basic form factor forced by the stock Rhino modules, which may or may not be advantageous. Nice to see these parts being used in a new way.

[team222badbrad]

Originally Posted by Skywalkar

Looks like you've got more than an inch of travel on those slots up front; do you think that VersaBlock tensioning may have been insufficient for this application?

We added extra length to the slots for ease of track removal.

We tried VersaBlocks on our proof of concept, but I was unhappy.

Too many problems so we created a better solution

Problems with them:

They are about the same size of the pulleys and could cause problems with going over obstacles, etc.

Hard to tension evenly and accurately. (One mentor holding the frame, another mentor to pull the tension, and another mentor to lock the tension.)

Additional complexity. You'd need bearings all over. (Two in the pulley and four in the VersaBlocks)

They did not fit my space requirement to keep the rails as compact in width as possible. (The rails are 3 inches wide internally.)

Chance of pulley not being perpendicular to the frame due to different tensions on each side of axle.

We created an aluminum plug to insert into the 2x1 extrusion. It has two threads at the end to "tension" the belt against the edge of the 2x1 and two bolts on the outside of the 2x1 to lock the tension in place.

[Willman]

Every season I come and look at what 222 has produced and am always impressed with how clean and simple you make everything look. I walk away saying "Why didn't we think of that?"

We wont see you until Montgomery! Good Luck!

[Ryan_Todd]

Originally Posted by team222badbrad

We created an aluminum plug to insert into the 2x1 extrusion. It has two threads at the end to "tension" the belt against the edge of the 2x1 and two bolts on the outside of the 2x1 to lock the tension in place.

An impressively simple and elegant solution! You really do make it look easy.
*taking notes*

[Cam877]

Looks awesome! Can't wait to see you guys at Mt. Olive this year!