2013 4" Performance Wheels

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by CalTran

With the release of a new 4in performance wheel, and the stroke of luck that we had not placed our order yet, what say you, ChiefDelphi, on what we should order? I imagine Mr. Baker might see this thread and would be able to weigh in.

The biggest difference I can tell between the old and new Performance wheels are the tread attachment. Do you think we should try the new rivetless attachment or stick with the tried and true .125 rivets?

The concept certainly seems strong, and changing tread will be stupid fast. I say try it, and have rivets on reserve if you're not satisfied.

[Peyton Yeung]

I think they are handy coming from a driver. I drive our robot like I stole it so when we used attachable treaded wheels I constantly wore them down. This method allows for a quicker replacement.

Peyton

[Nuttyman54]

The new tread attachment style is based on the wheels that 971 used last year, and they worked beautifully for us. The attachment method has been competition proven, I wouldn't have any hesitations using it.

[CalTran]

I'd say I'm convinced on using them...although...VEXPro wheels are looking mighty fine right now...only problem is they aren't metal.

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by CalTran

I'd say I'm convinced on using them...although...VEXPro wheels are looking mighty fine right now...only problem is they aren't metal.

Oh, please. ~$12 a wheel is a steel. (pun intended).

- Sunny G.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by CalTran

I'd say I'm convinced on using them...although...VEXPro wheels are looking mighty fine right now...only problem is they aren't metal.

How is that a problem?

[roystur44]

The team wants to thank RC for helping with design and machining our wheels last year. And also Aren Hill and Adam Heard who also helped come up with the design.

This was a great idea that came about. No more broken drills and putting a hole in your hand when you drill out the rivets. No more rivet heads dropping into the Jaguars.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

How is that a problem?

We've broken a few kit wheels in the past from either stress or wear or just bad luck. So that coupled with a swerve drive prototype, we'd like our wheels to be able to withstand some lateral torque when they're being rotated

[HumblePie]

It looks to me like the shaved down portion of the tread at the feed through point is leaving a significant flat spot. Isn't anyone concerned about a bumpy ride? I also think a layer of double sided tape applied first would help tread adhesion to resist the lateral torque, particularly for the areas furthest from the attachment point.

[JesseK]

Very nifty design!

@971: Did the flat part of the round wheel cause any 'drive straight' autonomous routines to NOT drive straight? If so, how did you compensate? Did the extra bump cause excessive noise in the gyro?

[Brian Selle]

One thing to note is that the new hub is slightly thicker (axle direction) than the previous generation performance wheel. The old wheel was 0.74", the new one is 0.80". Fortunately we were able to absorb the difference by using a thinner wheel spacer washer.

[AustinSchuh]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Very nifty design!

@971: Did the flat part of the round wheel cause any 'drive straight' autonomous routines to NOT drive straight? If so, how did you compensate? Did the extra bump cause excessive noise in the gyro?

When you are running on carpet, you don't notice. We did what Andy recommends and shaved the ends down. I would say that the bump on our wheels is similar to the bump with the rivets holding the ends of the tread down.

[Brian Selle]

We just got several of the new AM 4" performance wheels. Aluminum mag wheels for the robot, gotta love it. Very nicely made... should last a long time. I used roughtop for tread and found a few things:

1) Instead of shaving down the ends, if you get the bumps/waves of roughtop to interlock before inserting the 2 tread ends into hole it fits... just barely. You have to put the zip tie through the hole in the treads with a pair of needle nose pliers or hemostats AFTER you insert the tread through the hole.

2) In an attempt to eliminate/reduce the flat spot, I added "tabs" on the ends of the tread to keep the tread continuous on either side of the hole (see attached picture). Not sure it makes any difference as the flat spot is very minimal... but it looks nice and they lay flat.

3) The length of tread is slightly longer than the circumference of the wheel as the bending axis of tread must be near its center.

Attached is the flat pattern drawing.