New Products for 2016: Speculation, Wants

[Munchskull]

Originally Posted by Scott Kozutsky

Sprockets for bike chain. (cheaper, more available, lighter and more resistant to misalignment than #35 chain. If you get the unreasonably expensive stuff it's even lighter than #25 while being considerably stronger)

I second this.

[mrnoble]

Originally Posted by Scott Kozutsky

Chain tools for 35 and 25 chain similar to this one:
http://www.parktool.com/product/chai...category=Chain

Sprockets for bike chain. (cheaper, more available, lighter and more resistant to misalignment than #35 chain. If you get the unreasonably expensive stuff it's even lighter than #25 while being considerably stronger)

This would be great. Until the day this is COTS, anyone know of good ways to modify bike sprockets for FRC? Anyone seen it done successfully?

[mman1506]

Originally Posted by mrnoble

This would be great. Until the day this is COTS, anyone know of good ways to modify bike sprockets for FRC? Anyone seen it done successfully?

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=131586

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...41&postcount=3

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Mike Marandola

Chain breakers are already commonly available. You can even find tools that can re-peen the old pin like this one from 221 Systems or this one.

That first one is a total piece of crap. Gets the job done (usually) but there's nothing to like about it. The dark soul one is a must have for all teams though. Great product (not sure if you meant to link it twice, but your second and third links are the same product on different sites).

[Scott Kozutsky]

Originally Posted by Mike Marandola

Chain breakers are already commonly available. You can even find tools that can re-peen the old pin like this one from 221 Systems or this one.

The dark soul is absolutely the best 25 chain tool I know of. It's not as good as the park tool I've linked is for bike chain. There is no good option for 35 now that I know of. I doubt it would be difficult to make a replacement pin and alignment plate for the park tool but it is impractical for most individual teams to do it. The park tool can also re-peen bike chain.

[wireties]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

I think the only issues we've ever had with VersaPlanetaries have been related to misuse or improper assembly.

Same here - I think we had 16 on our 4 robots (2 tethered machines) last year and no problems of any kind.

[timytamy]

Originally Posted by Scott Kozutsky

There is no good option for 35 now that I know of.

I've taken to avoiding any open/adjustable style chain break tools. We bought something similar to this a few seasons ago and it worked great for #35.

[Mike Marandola]

Originally Posted by Scott Kozutsky

The dark soul is absolutely the best 25 chain tool I know of. It's not as good as the park tool I've linked is for bike chain. There is no good option for 35 now that I know of. I doubt it would be difficult to make a replacement pin and alignment plate for the park tool but it is impractical for most individual teams to do it. The park tool can also re-peen bike chain.

Ah, I took "similar to" to mean similar function and not similar form.

Originally Posted by Cory

That first one is a total piece of crap. Gets the job done (usually) but there's nothing to like about it. The dark soul one is a must have for all teams though. Great product (not sure if you meant to link it twice, but your second and third links are the same product on different sites).

It is, but that's the one we have and I don't have experience with any other type. Do you have a recommendation? I linked both because it was in stock at the third link. I probably could have excluded the second link.

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by Scott Kozutsky

The dark soul is absolutely the best 25 chain tool I know of. It's not as good as the park tool I've linked is for bike chain. There is no good option for 35 now that I know of.

This tool similar to the Dark Soul is what we use for #35 chain. The real benefit of these two is the ability to lay the chain in the pegs for easy alignment. The Park tool is useful for its versatility, but having used both styles, the DS and one I linked above cause significantly less frustration.

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by Cory

That first one is a total piece of crap.

Having used that one almost exclusively for years, this. So much this. If I could never see one of those again, I would be very happy about it.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Mike Marandola

Do you have a recommendation? I linked both because it was in stock at the third link. I probably could have excluded the second link.

Not really. We use #35 really infrequently. Last time we used it was 2010 and I'm pretty sure we just used a dremel to cut the chain. The two linked above look pretty decent though.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Monochron

This tool similar to the Dark Soul is what we use for #35 chain. The real benefit of these two is the ability to lay the chain in the pegs for easy alignment. The Park tool is useful for its versatility, but having used both styles, the DS and one I linked above cause significantly less frustration.

For chain tools I would highly recommend the one you linked for #35 and the Dark Soul for #25 having used both in addition to a few others that quickly became pieces of junk after a few uses.

[RoboticDaymon]

What I think would be nice is a west coast drive variant of the vexpro 2 cim ball shifter.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by RoboticDaymon

What I think would be nice is a west coast drive variant of the vexpro 2 cim ball shifter.

Use the 3 CIM ballshifter and stop after installing 2 CIMs

[mman1506]

I wish Vex would release a better WCD mount for the 3 Cim ballshifter. The heads of the tiny 8-32 screws always get destroyed by the chain and become impossible to tighten.