WCD-Belt Driven CAD practice

Originally Posted by Cash4587

Interesting thought. The gussets are 3.5" x 4". I may shave 1/2" or 1" off of them or maybe not idk lol. You were right, those are bumper mounts. How would I go about making the mounts stronger? They are aready .090 5052 aluminum as it is.

Yeah, looks like you can easily shave an inch off the long end of the gussets, and a half inch on the two shorter ends each.

What makes your bumper mounts weak is that there is nothing supporting most of the front where the bumper makes contact. There is a large hole in between the mount, which is likely where something is going to cave into. If you still want to use that method of mounting, I'd suggest putting some wood or another light but solid material inside the gaps to prevent them from bending inwards. Another option is to make a rectangle around your base using 1x1x.125 aluminum to add bumpers to and to increase mounting space (especially if you're not welding, mounting space for gussets is important, and it looks like a lot of the space on your 2x1's is taken up). Here is an example of the surrounding 1x1 rectangle: http://media.team254.com/2012/08/drivebase.jpg .

[Akash Rastogi]

Andrew, I can assure you (based on my experiences with that design) the bumper mounts are just fine. This is also why we prototype, to find out what breaks!

[JB]

This looks great. We went to a belt WCD this year and loved it. My big question is with the WCP dual speed. Did you have to increase the size of the spacers and the hex shafts in the gearbox or did the 2 9mm pulleys fit into the basic gearbox. Also did you use the regular or the WCD model.

[Cash4587]

Originally Posted by jb1403

This looks great. We went to a belt WCD this year and loved it. My big question is with the WCP dual speed. Did you have to increase the size of the spacers and the hex shafts in the gearbox or did the 2 9mm pulleys fit into the basic gearbox. Also did you use the regular or the WCD model.

Due to the belt pulleys being larger than sprockets, the gearbox will have to be widened by about half an inch +/- .125". Although it will take some machining to get this done, (some very basic machining) I see it as a benefit rather than a hassle. With belts rather than chains, after they are set since it is exact c-c you never have to touch them again unless something bad goes wrong. like thrown belt or ratcheting occurs or other issues caused usually by human error. I forgot to mention I added .003" to the c-c distance to get the tight fit on the belts. But I have seen some very good and bad things said about belts. Mainly good. So I am giving them a shot. I put the WCP WCD gearbox in there because it was built for the type of frame I designed so it was basically a plug and play. I guess you could try and use the regular WCP shifter but I didn't. Glad I could help.

[Akash Rastogi]

To be clear, Damprobot, this is all for a prototype to test out some sponsors we found for Cooper's fantastic team.

I have high hopes for their team, Cooper is awesome at absorbing information from all over and learning very quickly. They are also backed by some former mentors of 57 and 624.

[Cash4587]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

To be clear, Damprobot, this is all for a prototype to test out some sponsors we found for Cooper's fantastic team.

I have high hopes for their team, Cooper is awesome at absorbing information from all over and learning very quickly. They are also backed by some former mentors of 57 and 624.

We are also backed by people like you who are always willing to help

[Cash4587]

http://prntscr.com/1m24bi

I was doing some more messing around and found that if WCP would have made their gearbox a little more than an 1/8th of an inch wider maybe more like 1/4", we could have fit 5mm gt2 pulleys in there that are 9mm wide. It is so close. I wish WCP would just make a version of their gearbox for people like us who like to use belts...

[Cash4587]

http://prntscr.com/1m25qt

Yet again, I did some more updating to make the bumper mounts legal (the distance between them was not <= 8in.) and I made their flanges beefier. Lastly, I widened the frame an inch and a half on each of the end tubes to better use all of the frame perimeter rule except 1 inch of it. so the frame perimeter is now 111" vs 108"

[Mk.32]

Originally Posted by Cash4587

http://prntscr.com/1m25qt

Yet again, I did some more updating to make the bumper mounts legal (the distance between them was not <= 8in.) and I made their flanges beefier. Lastly, I widened the frame an inch and a half on each of the end tubes to better use all of the frame perimeter rule except 1 inch of it. so the frame perimeter is now 111" vs 108"

We did the almost did the same thing, belt drive WCD with WCP gearboxes.

We were able to fit 9mm GT2 pulleys in there no problem.
http://31.media.tumblr.com/624ace34b...cgvo7_1280.jpg I personally machined the pulleys out of 3/8 alum plate.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Mk.32

We did the almost did the same thing, belt drive WCD with WCP gearboxes.

We were able to fit 9mm GT2 pulleys in there no problem.
http://31.media.tumblr.com/624ace34b...cgvo7_1280.jpg I personally machined the pulleys out of 3/8 alum plate.

Haha Mark I've been showing him your stuff the entire time for this project

[Cash4587]

OHHHH. This is the team with that drive that pushed that robot the whole field length. That was sick.

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Haha Mark I've been showing him your stuff the entire time for this project

Yeah, that was kind of an uncanny resemblance...

But I suppose once you decide to use belts and colsons in a WCD, they're not many choices left to make.

[roystur44]

Cooper,

You should ask your sponsor if they have the proper brake dies to bend your bumper brackets from one piece. They would need to use a large goose neck die or make a window in the die set for the return flange. Otherwise great design. You could bend in hat sections into the belly pan for air lines and wiring. I haven't seen many designs that incorporate access from the bottom of the robot.

[Mk.32]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Haha Mark I've been showing him your stuff the entire time for this project

Oh awesome
We were really happy with how our 2013 drive came out. Let me know if you have any questions.

[ablatner]

Originally Posted by Cash4587

http://prntscr.com/1m25qt

Yet again, I did some more updating to make the bumper mounts legal (the distance between them was not <= 8in.) and I made their flanges beefier. Lastly, I widened the frame an inch and a half on each of the end tubes to better use all of the frame perimeter rule except 1 inch of it. so the frame perimeter is now 111" vs 108"

I can't quite tell from the angle, but is there enough room for mounting hardware on the bumper mount flanges? The sets of holes on the inside of the flange look really close to the bend. You may not be able to get a rivet gun in there.