Chain vs. Belts?!?

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by Greg Woelki

221 Robotic Systems recommends here.

Ditto here. I've bought two from DDM. (Get a spare set of pins when you do; I'm not sure how long they last after you know how to use them, but we had one break under first time handling by a student on Saturday.)

A similar tool for #35 is available here. As it happens, I'll be ordering a couple this evening, so I can't make a recommendation.

Edit:

For the record, the Dark Soul tool requires slightly different usage for standard duty vs heavy duty (e.g. Vex, and I believe also AM) chains. The difference between the two is the "plate thickness", that is, the thickness of both the inner and outer plates that run from pin to pin. For heavy duty chain, when removing a pin, it is necessary to go to the point of increased resistance, then about another 1/4 turn. For regular duty chain, doing this will result in the pin being pushed completely out of the outer plate, making it essentially impossible to use that link again, at least by using the DS tool.

Also, take care not to over-tighten on pushing pins into the chain; stop just before the screw pin reaches the outer plate of the chain. Even when doing this, I have found it necessary at times to use a screwdriver of just the right width and a hammer to push the outer plates away so that they do not bind on the inner plates -- especially when using standard-duty link-and-a-halves.

OBTW, does anyone know where to source a heavy duty #25 link-and-a-half?

Originally Posted by Cothron Theiss

I'd love to hear how these tools perform. I want my team to get away fro Master Links in #35 chain, so just some info about how well it works would be greatly appreciated.

The order is placed. I'll try to remember to post some info back here in a few weeks. If not, send me a PM around 1 August to remind me!

Edit 2:

Originally Posted by Chak

We bought that exact chain tool from Amazon for this build season. It works, and it does the job, but the quality is not the best. One of the bolts had a hex socket that was ever so slightly too small, and I had to widen it by pounding the 3/8" hex key in and shaving off a thin layer of metal off the bolt. No other hex key, in mm or inches, was as close to fitting as the 3/8" - which works perfectly fine for the other bolt. I was probably just unlucky, but that's still bad quality.

On the first tool we ordered (all I've had in hand so far), the pins were driven perfectly by 5/32" allen wrenches. That was already our most-used hand tool*, so I just bought a couple more!

* - I even have one on my non-car key ring - not only for use on robot stuff, but the "crash door hardware" at the school and church both use 5/32" hex keys to place the hardware in and out of "access from outside" mode. I pretty literally never go more than 50' from my house without a 5/32" allen key in my right pocket.

I did notice some online directions for using the Dark Soul tool referencing a millimeter-based tool (4mm, IIRC).