Drivetrain Critiques

[Chickenonastick]

How is the belly pan secured to the frame? It appears to be sitting in between the drive chain loop. Most drivetrains run the belly pan riveted or screwed to the very bottom of the drivetrain, to the 2x1's. However, in your case, it does look like you need to change the wheel sprockets in order to switch to a bottom-mounted belly pan.

The output side of the Victors on the right are being blocked by the cRIO. If you're going to keep it that way, invest in some 90-degree terminal connectors?

Also, the placement of the power switch in relation to the PDB's battery terminals and the area for fastening the Anderson connector on your battery box is a little tight and normal 6AWG wire may not be able to loop around the area that well. However, you should be able to pull it off with some welding cable.

Spike and Air Tank for the Compressor

Finally, your battery box doesn't necessarily have to be that high. It also looks a little tight. I would say do a little prototyping. Only the corners of the box are "extremely" important, the extra material on the "faces" of the battery box may or may not be necessary.

[R.C.]

You can probably get 1/2" Hex for a bit cheaper from Coast Aluminum.

http://www.coastaluminum.com/Design/...?uri=ContactUs

Also try and not to run the chain underneath the belly pan. You can space up the 1x1 so its closer to the middle of the 2x1 by using 1/2" length spacers with a .375" OD and .196" ID.

How do you attach your bumpers from front to back?

The battery box could get centered, If your waterjetting. You can make a ring similar to what 973/1323 did in 2011. Its pretty nice. We did the same thing for 2012, I forget what 973 did.

Putting the compressor between the gearboxes is semi awful, as when taking the gearboxes out its gonna be a pain.

Why leave the entire front of the DT open? Is this a proto WCD? If so why not fill it up entirely?

-RC

[rcmolloy]

Originally Posted by R.C.

The battery box could get centered, If your waterjetting. You can make a ring similar to what 973/1323 did in 2011. Its pretty nice. We did the same thing for 2012, I forget what 973 did.
-RC

We happened to approach the battery box in a similar fashion for 2012. It was just a ring setup but recessed about 3 inches below the bottom of the frame. The battery rested on a 1/16 plate mounted by standoffs.

Any other specifics are Adam's specialty

[roystur44]

Try to keep the wheels as close to the perimeter. If the game involves a ramp of some kind the wheels will come off the ground when the front or back tube hits the ramp. You might try running the front/back tube at a 45 deg angle.

Here is a picture of what I am talking about:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1177698...07353715384594

If you can bend flanges into your G10 belly plate it would strengthen the pan considerably and give you a flange to rivet the plate into the side tubes.

[Ekcrbe]

Originally Posted by roystur44

Try to keep the wheels as close to the perimeter. If the game involves a ramp of some kind the wheels will come off the ground when the front or back tube hits the ramp. You might try running the front/back tube at a 45 deg angle.

And remember to keep enough ground clearance on the outside wheels even with the chassis tipped to the front or back. We forgot about that this past year and couldn't cross the bump because of it.