Our 2017 drive train

[Massako]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

Others who have implemented this type of drive in FRC have strongly recommended ensuring that your strafe wheel is on some sort of a suspension to ensure it receives enough normal force to be effective on imperfect floors.

do you know anyway of doing that that would be cost effective and easy to manufacture? That's the only reason we haven't adapted that and are ok if it is not perfect. it is primarily there for slight assistance with aligning with the gear lift. we have looked at some implementations of such a method but concluded it would be to difficult for our ability with manufacturing.

Thanks

[mman1506]

Originally Posted by Massako

do you know anyway of doing that that would be cost effective and easy to manufacture? That's the only reason we haven't adapted that and are ok if it is not perfect. it is primarily there for slight assistance with aligning with the gear lift. we have looked at some implementations of such a method but concluded it would be to difficult for our ability with manufacturing.

Thanks

You could try using a VersaDrop module. The pneumatic cylinder will act as a air spring to give you some suspension travel and you could retract it if necessary. If you add a secondary air pressure regulator you can adjust the air pressure until you are happy with the amount of force it pushes against ground.

[Joe G.]

Originally Posted by Massako

do you know anyway of doing that that would be cost effective and easy to manufacture? That's the only reason we haven't adapted that and are ok if it is not perfect. it is primarily there for slight assistance with aligning with the gear lift. we have looked at some implementations of such a method but concluded it would be to difficult for our ability with manufacturing.

Thanks

Built one of these back in 2008. I can absolutely confirm that you need this feature -- not having it basically wrecked that robot. Middle wheel was ever-so-slightly lower than the outer four, and it could not drive straight, in any direction, to save its life. In hindsight, we should have pulled the middle wheel out after the first match and never looked back, instead of trying to fight it all event long.

Easiest and most foolproof way I can think of to do it COTS would be a VersaDrop module with only one wheel, spring loaded downwards. Alternatively, you could try building something like 148's decadrive center module out of a series of versablocks.