Questions about building a West Coast Drive with VersaChassis

[Nemo]

Originally Posted by Monochron

The ToughBox Minis used this year direct drove the center wheel. Are you saying that I won't be able to mount it so that I can direct drive the center wheel?
The thing I need to check with that is if the output shaft is going to be long enough, or if that will have to be replaced as well. Unfortunately we can't afford two new gearboxes right now, so I am going to try and find a way to make that work.

Thad House was right about the inner plate not being included in the KOP this year, though. In that case I may be able to use the 2013 version then, which did include the plates.

Typical West Coast Drive gearboxes allow the chains and sprockets to go inside the gearbox. I suggest downloading a CAD model of the West Coast Product single speed West Coast Drive gearbox to study how it's put together. That setup lets you avoid putting the chains between the wheels and the outside edge of the frame rails, which is best avoided since it makes your cantilevered axles longer/bendier and shrinks the space available in your frame.

I'm certain that a custom solution can be created to connect a Toughbox Mini to a VersaBlock WCD setup; one way would be to make two separate plates and house the sprockets between them. Another way would be to put two halves of a VersaBlock on the frame rail and offset the gearbox from the rail with standoffs to create space for the sprockets. Either way, one would at least need to machine some plates with mounting holes located reasonably accurately.

Why does your team want to build a non-KoP drive train? If funds are pretty limited, going with the kit drive is a great way to keep costs in check. And this year's kit drive featured direct driven center wheels and belt drive - what's not to like about it? I like VersaChassis a lot, but it's not something I would recommend for a team if they lack the resources to buy or fabricate gearboxes to match it.

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by Nemo

Either way, one would at least need to machine some plates with mounting holes located reasonably accurately.

I don't have the CAD model of the plate that goes with the Mini's, but is there a reason that that plate wouldn't work?

Why does your team want to build a non-KoP drive train? If funds are pretty limited, going with the kit drive is a great way to keep costs in check. And this year's kit drive featured direct driven center wheels and belt drive - what's not to like about it? I like VersaChassis a lot, but it's not something I would recommend for a team if they lack the resources to buy or fabricate gearboxes to match it.

The "why" has a couple reasons. First because it generally seems to be the superior tank-style drive. Also ease of maintenance hurt us badly this year and having something a bit simpler to access would help.
More than this, though, we want to focus on trying a variety of things in the offseason to better prepare for next season. A different shaped base (28" x 28"), a variety of wheels, and maybe different joysticks or controllers will help with that.
Third, we want to transition of programmer from Python to Java as well as get more than one student to work on programming. Programming a brand new drive base is something that could actually motivate a couple students to jump on programming.