Pneumatic Wheels vs Treads

[Mk.32]

Originally Posted by Bruceb

any idea what these treads from brecoflex cost?

Expensive... I've heard $200-300 a piece is average.

[Kartoffee]

Remember that if you use treads, an opponent can T-bone you and you won't be able to move or turn. And it technically isn't pinning because you aren't trapped against a game element.

[iSpotix]

They also have this playlist of all the terrain obstacles. Some are tested with wheels and treads others are just treads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s04B...ozlzd6&index=1

[FRC Warrior]

Originally Posted by Kartoffee

Remember that if you use treads, an opponent can T-bone you and you won't be able to move or turn. And it technically isn't pinning because you aren't trapped against a game element.

Why wouldn't you be able to move?

[David Guzman]

Originally Posted by Bruceb

where do you source your belts?

We have always purchased them from Brecoflex. They can get expensive, between 130-200 but this was a few years ago.

We used AT10-K13 Self-Tracking Belts. You have to pick one of the backings available. Lead time has always been around 3 weeks. Cheapest way to go is to buy their regular pulley stock and machine the K13 V-Groove on them for self tracking.

[alecmuller]

I asked Brecoflex for a quote earlier this week and they sent this guide. I'm not 100% sure on the pitch but I think their largest pulleys are 150mm diameter. Plus-side: they're estimating 2-day lead time!

[hrench]

I've never ordered from them until today, but Superdroidrobotics lists quite a few pneumatics wheels in stock.

the six-inch is about 5 bucks and the ten inch is about 8 bucks.

http://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop...nd-shafts/153/

They also have tread/track sold by the foot for DIY. 4-inch wide is about 10 bucks a foot, 2 inch wide is $6.50.

http://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop...nd-treads/162/

If anyone here has experience with them, I'd be pleased to hear your comments.

[ThaddeusMaximus]

Wheels, hard and pneumatic. They're efficient, they're cheap, they're light, they're simple, and offer just as much (or not that much less than, at least) traction as treads.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by hrench

I've never ordered from them until today, but Superdroidrobotics lists quite a few pneumatics wheels in stock.

the six-inch is about 5 bucks and the ten inch is about 8 bucks.

http://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop...nd-shafts/153/

They also have tread/track sold by the foot for DIY. 4-inch wide is about 10 bucks a foot, 2 inch wide is $6.50.

http://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop...nd-treads/162/

If anyone here has experience with them, I'd be pleased to hear your comments.

The tread looks worthless for FRC applications. You need some kind of toothed interface to transmit the type of torque we'd be applying.

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by alecmuller

I asked Brecoflex for a quote earlier this week and they sent this guide. I'm not 100% sure on the pitch but I think their largest pulleys are 150mm diameter. Plus-side: they're estimating 2-day lead time!

Which backing material tread did you go with? PVC White Nub or T-Cover sounds to make the most sense for FRC.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by iSpotix

They also have this playlist of all the terrain obstacles. Some are tested with wheels and treads others are just treads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s04B...ozlzd6&index=1

I will be interested to see this robot with legal bumpers.... and then see how it works on the different terrain challenges.

I am not saying that it won't work... I am just interested in seeing how that changes things ... if at all...

[alecmuller]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Which backing material tread did you go with? PVC White Nub or T-Cover sounds to make the most sense for FRC.

I've never actually ordered from them before (we still haven't placed our order), but Team 1619 recommended PVC Herringbone and SuperGrip Green (neither of which are on that PDF).

It probably also depends on your team's budget. If a set of treads doesn't need to last the entire competition season, then I'd go with PVC Blue for the "very high friction on smooth surfaces" or the Supergrip Blue. If the game is rough enough on the treads, though, then they might wear out 1 or more times and you'll need to buy spares (the ones with higher abrasion resistance but lower traction might save you from that, but there's no way to know other than experience).

[MrJohnston]

For what it's worth.... My kids saw the Rhino treads on AndyMark a couple days before the reveal video. (Yes, I have nerds on my team who spend their hours day-dreaming and reading about the newest robot parts as an entertaining way to pass time...) They were speculating that AndyMark had created them specifically for this game and wanted me to purchase them early -before the rush....Not wanting to drop $400 x 2 x 2 robots = $1600 for something we might not lose, I said we had to wait until we knew the game and our strategy and design teams had a chance to weigh in. Besides we had spent much of the training season perfecting our abilities to build a great mecanum system and had already invested in all the parts we might need to build either a 6 wheel tank drive or a mecanum drive - either with varying wheel sizes.

Of course.... Our strategy team passed the recommendation on to the designers that we wanted the Rhinos and the design team agreed... Checking online, it was now a potential 3 week delay. A lot happens on Saturday. We weighed the risks and agreed to pursue our other aspects of the robot first - besides there are quite a few game elements to build. Saturday night, we ordered the Rhinos for both our competition bot and the practice bot....

They arrived today?! It was like a second Christmas.....

Maybe we'll have a mecanum system next year...

[cbale2000]

Personally, I prefer option 3...

Wheels, Treads, or Wheels that act like Treads

[Munchskull]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

Personally, I prefer option 3...

Wheels, Treads, or Wheels that act like Treads

Certainly beats out treads that act like wheels. *cough* Plantation wheels *cough*