Belt vs. Chain

[Jon Stratis]

The difference in belts versus chains, as others have mentioned here and as our team has experienced, is really one of time. Using belts typically takes more time, as you need to work our more precise distances, figure out precise lengths of belt to order, etc. Chain is quick and easy - you can get a kitbot assembled in a day with a chain drive. For a belt drive, unless you have the exact length of belt on hand, it'll take longer (lead time on ordering new belts).

We've always used chain on our drive system. It's quick, easy, and reliable (we've never had much of a problem with it). We've used belts in some other places as well - most notably in our claw/roller assembly this year and in our shooting turret for Lunacy. In both cases, we had to obtain belts of the appropriate length, and build in tension adjustment (this year, mounting the Banebots motors in slots for adjustment, for Lunacy we mounted CIM motors on rotatable armatures). Both of those tension adjustments were set and forget... but they needed to be planned out ahead of time. Contrast that with our drive system this year, where we through it together and added tensioners after the fact.

As we've told our team countless times... there are a multitude of ways to solve any one problem, and many of those ways are going to provide equivalent results.Chain versus belts is one of those comparisons... they'll both give you the same results, it's really a decision on what you would rather do, and where you want to spend your time.