Plaction wheel shooter?

[GilaMonsterAlex]

Originally Posted by Cal578

Alex,
What belting are you using, and how did you mount it to the wheel? We might want to do something similar, but I'm wondering about the safety issues that others have mentioned (tread tearing off at high speed). What is the highest RPM you have tested with this belting?

Cal,

We use the wedgetop from AndyMark (as it's already cut into a straight 1" strip) and drill and rivet to the wheel over a 3" interval. We normally use these on our drivetrain.

We are currently spinning them at roughly 4000 rpm, without any separation.

[Cal578]

Thanks for the answer, Alex. Our shooter has a top speed of 6000 rpm. [Not sure we need to go quite that fast, but if the motors can, we'd better make sure it's safe.] If we change to plaction and use your riveting method, we'll make sure to carefully test up to full speed. I'd be worried about the centrifugal force focused on the relatively small area of rivets.

Has anyone tried some kind of glue for holding the tread on the wheel at high speeds? Then all the centrifugal force is spread along the entire circumference of the wheel. Repair and replacement might be difficult, and I'd still be a little concerned about the disc contacting the ends of the tread (that may focus a little more shear force there). If anyone has experience (good or bad) with that, I'd like to hear about it and learn from you.

[commodoredl]

Originally Posted by Cal578

Has anyone tried some kind of glue for holding the tread on the wheel at high speeds? Then all the centrifugal force is spread along the entire circumference of the wheel. Repair and replacement might be difficult, and I'd still be a little concerned about the disc contacting the ends of the tread (that may focus a little more shear force there). If anyone has experience (good or bad) with that, I'd like to hear about it and learn from you.

Be careful with some adhesives on the plaction wheels as they could break the wheels with the wrong chemical combination. In particular, Loctite will crack plactions fairly quickly.

[yarb65]

Our team has always used double stick tape, instead of adhesive and then revit the tread to the wheel. Have never lost a tread, even when all the side wall of the plaction was all broke off.