is sand paper good traction?

[Martin]

sand paper as traction for the carpet ? good or not ?
it would not do any damage, we would definitley haveto have a high torque low speed option if we were to do that, just becasue there is so much friction...but as long as it didn't damadge the feild is it ok ?
thanks

[Jeff Waegelin]

I suppose it would probably be allowed, since it wouldn't really damage the carpet, however, I do not think it would be a very good surface for traction. You must also keep in mind that you cannot put anything on a purchased wheel. If you want to use your own traction material, you must build your own wheels.

EDIT: I received a pm from someone, and they had a good comment:

2000vfr800 wrote on 01-08-2003 10:36 AM:
My reply was in response to using sandpaper for traction. While it might not destroy the carpet, I do believe that it would scratch the HDPE or surface of the metal grate ramps... And since the rules say you can't destroy/damage any part of the field, it might get you disqualified.

Just my $.02. Thanks.

Don

[Matt Reiland]

Martin,

We used heavy grit sandpaper last year on the wheels with some success but the level of traction greatly changed throughout the days as the samdpaper filled up with threads from the carpet and the carpet became worn and flat.

I think sandpaper will have issues getting up the ramps and it will probably take off the paint which might be considered damaging the field same for the plastic topper.

We unded up using the supergrip material similar to brecoflex that stayed much more consistent throughout the days of the event

Also the sandpaper is VERY difficult to overcome on a side load for your robot to turn with tank steering.