Chains

[akoscielski3]

This year was our first year doing our whole robot in sheetmetal and we will be doing it (hopefully) Forever. Great decision to do sheet.

So what makes putting the chain on a lot easier it to make BIG lightening holes on the sides. then you can get your hands in there. IF you are going to cover the tops and bottom of the drive trains, the put the chains on first and make sure they are easy to come off in case you have to replace the chains at competition.

Sheet-metal, and really all types of robots, need to have a lot of thought about assembling, disassembling, and replacing parts. Your designers need to learn what kinds of things should be done to make all those things easier and quicker to do. (PS: RIVETS ARE AMAZING WITH SHEETMETAL!).

Another thing, when putting the chains on what I do is lay your chain out over the sprockets, with the end of your chain on the sprocket, measure which link needs to be removed, then cut the chain. Then when you are putting it on to put the master-link in, put both the ends of the chain on the sprocket so they are at the distance they should be at. then you can easily put the master-link in. (sorry if that was a terrible explanation)

Hope this helps