Andymark Plaction wheels vs IFI wheels

[Alex.q]

Originally Posted by Siri

My fault, I meant the wheel perimeter (or rather, surface) itself does not change to accommodate the tread--i.e. it doesn't open as the Plactions do.


I'll also note that we used the 4" Plactions on the end of co-axial pivot modules for crossing both the 2010 bump and the 2012 barrier (and the 2011...field). No problems here, they're some serious wheels. I'd be interested to know how one could crack them. We're still constantly running the 2010 robot (falling off our practice bridge...) with no issues.

The most trouble we've had with AM wheels and treads was in a crab drive; some treads fell off, some got ripped up and lost the outer layer of tread (granted, this was by the fall and would most likely have happened regardless of the wheel).

Anyway, my reason for posting. We have never (to my knowledge) broken a 4" or 6" plaction wheel, but on our 2010 bot during a demo at the state fair, we destroyed two pairs of 8" plactions. Apparently our driver was excited and took off over the bump, came down and bent and snapped the spokes in the plastic wheels. I wonder if we have a picture of them... I think the smaller wheel sizes are plenty strong; the larger ones may be comparatively weaker, I don't know for sure.