Plaction Wheel?

[Mk.32]

How do we apply the tread on the wheels?
Thanks in advance.

[EagleEngineer]

apple? apply?

[Mk.32]

yeah my bad..
corrected in the OP

[ttldomination]

If you ordered the wheel with the tread, then AM fits the tread into wheel and depending on the size of the wheel, they attach the two ends of the tread.

Various teams don't approve of AM's method of attaching the two ends of tread together and teams have attached with rivets and other methods.

I suggest doing a search for plaction wheels and see if you can find the answers to all of your questions.

- Sunny

[Mk.32]

sweet thanks.
We got some wheels from another team but without thread so looking for some info.

[blayde5]

Generally we just buy them with the tread on and then rivet it on some more (cause their staples are notoriously weak).

If you don't get them like that, you're going to have to buy tread from somewhere and the easiest way to attach it to the wheel is to drill some holes and rivet it on.

[Mk.32]

Yeah we have a roll of thread just need to attach, also how long does the thread last generally

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Mk.32

Yeah we have a roll of thread just need to attach, also how long does the thread last generally

Depending on the type of tread and similar things, you can expect it to last up to one regional, max. You will want to have a spare set of wheels fully treaded and ready to put on the robot in case tread comes off; you can simply put another wheel on and retread the untreaded wheel at your leisure.

It's not uncommon to swap tread at the end of the day on Friday, or between qualifications and eliminations.

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by EricH

Depending on the type of tread and similar things, you can expect it to last up to one regional, max. You will want to have a spare set of wheels fully treaded and ready to put on the robot in case tread comes off; you can simply put another wheel on and retread the untreaded wheel at your leisure.

Uh...say what? Your tread standard must be significantly higher than ours. We used the same plaction wheels for three events + testing + scrimmage last year, and I'm very comfortable to say that even after all that, the tread looks like it can go another year....

- Sunny

[EricH]

Maybe tread quality has improved, or the plactions protect it better, but I do know that when 330 used tread on their wheels, we'd be unscrewing it and putting on a new belt every event or so. I've also seen tread come off mid-match; if that happens, it's a good idea to replace the tread to minimize the chance that it'll do the exact same thing the next match.

I also know that 254 likes to keep an extra set of wheels around, ready to install if tread comes off.

On our pneumatic tires, which we've been using lately, if you can get more than one event out of them, you're doing well. Those actually have a wear indicator.