West Coast Drive vs Mini CIM Drive

[juju_beans]

My team did some testing with 6 pneumatic wheels on a west coast drive train and found that whenever we would do a sudden stop, turn, or change of direction, either the gears or the timing belt would skip. long use of this would destroy them both, so I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with 6 mini CIM motors with one motor per wheel. I read up about the motors and found that the mini CIMs are 2/3 the power of the regular CIM motors, so with 6, it would be equal to the power of 4 CIM motors, which is what we currently have driving the west coast.

I would use the mini CIMs and the clamp mounts (http://www.vexrobotics.com/217-4156.html)

soooo what do you guys think about this

[thatprogrammer]

What diameter wheels did you run? Also, where the belts C-C or tensioned?

[Joe G.]

In general, one motor per wheel is not the best approach, especially in a game with terrain. The problem is, when some of your wheels are lifted off the ground by terrain or opponents playing defense, you loose the power of some of your motors, at the time when you need it the most.

What size pulleys were you using? Larger pulleys make belts more resistant to skipping, and enable them to carry heavier loads.

[juju_beans]

They were 8in wheels, and the belts were tensioned I think.

[ThaddeusMaximus]

Something's clearly wrong.

If your gears are slipping, I'd recommend re-examining your gearboxes. Slipping gears isn't good. Also, don't run AM aluminum gears. They're made of much less hard material than Vex gears, so wear quite easily and eventually strip.

If your timing belt is slipping, you might be running C-C too far apart. (or maybe you should be upgrading from 9mm belt to 15mm? Would this help?)

These are much better options than decreasing your pushing power during a tip from 4 CIMs to 2 MiniCIMs. (When you chain your motors together, they can all contribute to motive power. When you don't, it's only the motors connected to wheels on the ground.)