pic: 222 VexRhino Drive

[team222badbrad]

Originally Posted by Skywalkar

Looks like you've got more than an inch of travel on those slots up front; do you think that VersaBlock tensioning may have been insufficient for this application?

We added extra length to the slots for ease of track removal.

We tried VersaBlocks on our proof of concept, but I was unhappy.

Too many problems so we created a better solution

Problems with them:

They are about the same size of the pulleys and could cause problems with going over obstacles, etc.

Hard to tension evenly and accurately. (One mentor holding the frame, another mentor to pull the tension, and another mentor to lock the tension.)

Additional complexity. You'd need bearings all over. (Two in the pulley and four in the VersaBlocks)

They did not fit my space requirement to keep the rails as compact in width as possible. (The rails are 3 inches wide internally.)

Chance of pulley not being perpendicular to the frame due to different tensions on each side of axle.

We created an aluminum plug to insert into the 2x1 extrusion. It has two threads at the end to "tension" the belt against the edge of the 2x1 and two bolts on the outside of the 2x1 to lock the tension in place.

[Willman]

Every season I come and look at what 222 has produced and am always impressed with how clean and simple you make everything look. I walk away saying "Why didn't we think of that?"

We wont see you until Montgomery! Good Luck!

[Ryan_Todd]

Originally Posted by team222badbrad

We created an aluminum plug to insert into the 2x1 extrusion. It has two threads at the end to "tension" the belt against the edge of the 2x1 and two bolts on the outside of the 2x1 to lock the tension in place.

An impressively simple and elegant solution! You really do make it look easy.
*taking notes*

[Cam877]

Looks awesome! Can't wait to see you guys at Mt. Olive this year!