Brecoflex Belt Versions

[JasonS]

Does anyone have any experience with the Brecoflex ARC Power Plus series belts (seen here)? They are self tracking and the documentation says they are built for high torque/power transmission applications. I know I want to go with Brecoflex belts for my drivetrain (not a FIRST Bot btw) but I'm not sure what tooth profile to use. What models have teams had sucess with in the past?

[ICE MAN]

no but they do seem to look totally sweet. ill try to convince my mentor to defiantly look into them.

[MattB703]

Hello Jason

I have been using Brecoflex belts on FIRST robots since 2003. They have worked really well for us.

I looked into the Arcpower series. To the best of my knowledge the Arcpower belts were made for quieter and smoother operation than the standard belts. I think that quiet and smooth are not super important in our application and we chose to stay with the standard 50mm wide tracked belts.

Hint - spend some time looking at all of the different backing choices. There are some that are really good for specific surfaces.

Matt B
703 - Team Phoenix

[JasonS]

So I talked to one of the Brecoflex engineers today indepth about the belts. He told me that the ARC power plus versions have trouble handling large side loads, and reccomended using the TK10 or ATK10 self tracking belts because they can have a much stronger tracking grove.

Also he helped me with the selection of a backing material and sent me a doc that they produced specifically for FIRST teams that comparied some of their backings and gave relative coefficients of friction for the various field surfaces. Im not sure if FIRST has passed this info along to teams or not, but if anyone would like this doc email me and I will be happy to forward it on to you.

[Jeff K.]

We were considering these for this year, we were going to go with the ATK10 50mm wide belts with the linatex backing. Only thing holding us back was price and time.

[JasonS]

Great choice on the ATK10's. According to the engineer at Brecoflex, they have more than twice the tensile strength than the TK10's for only $20 more.

Personally I am going with the ATK10's and probably the Linatrile backing for my application. The Linatex has a higher coeffecient of friction but a lower durometer (hardness) than the linatrile, which is just perfect for the FIRST carpet. The robot im designing will also have to navigate surfaces like asphalt that might chew up the linatex so I am gunna compromise a little friction for some durability.

FYI: They are quoting the lead times to be about 2 weeks for the belts.

[Jeff K.]

Originally Posted by JasonS

FYI: They are quoting the lead times to be about 2 weeks for the belts.

2 WEEKS!!?

They told us 4-6 weeks+ for the truly endless belt version of these, and only 2-3 weeks for the spliced and welded belt. And one week in addition to that for the beltbacking.

What was the quote they gave you for price?

[JasonS]

The 2 week quote was for the spliced and welded belt.

For a 50mm wide ATK10 3000mm long with Linatrile backing they quoted roughly $250 per belt. This was before a 10% educational discount. Notice my belt length will probably be a bit longer than what you might need.

[Ianworld]

Brecoflex from what my team gathered ordering from them this year is that anything they have to do custom will take them 4-6 weeks. Items they have in stock they will ship in exactly(crossing my fingers here) 2 weeks. So as a FIRST robotics team unless you know that you're going to go with treads before the kickoff the only real options you have are choosing what they have in stock. In general they have pretty nice engineers on the phone that will help you with your decisions and if you explain your situation they'll usually be very helpful.

Secondly could you post that document about their different backings and their effect on the carpet. That could be a huge boon to teams. I know i'm very, very nervous about my team's choice of supergrip. I'm sure it will be very tractive on the carpet and pretty good on the diamond plate/lexan. However I'm worried it will be too good. I've heard rumors of 2.0+ coefficients of friction on the carpet that will make turning a nightmare.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Ianworld

I've heard rumors of 2.0+ coefficients of friction on the carpet that will make turning a nightmare.

Lower that number to around 1.3 and you'll have a ballpark figure.

[Jeff K.]

Originally Posted by Cory

Lower that number to around 1.3 and you'll have a ballpark figure.

The backing with the highest coefficient of friction from BrecoFlex is Linatex with 1.1.

The McMasterCarr Wedgetop Conveyor Belt Material though has a coefficient of friction of 1.3.

[JasonS]

I uploaded the document in the whitepapers sections Here