Cutting Rhino Tracks??

[Bluejackets]

Has anyone ever cut Rhino Tracks and reattached to make a shorter belt? If so any recommendations?

Thanks and hope everyone is having a great build season.

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by Bluejackets

Has anyone ever cut Rhino Tracks and reattached to make a shorter belt? If so any recommendations?

Thanks and hope everyone is having a great build season.

1/10 would not recommend. You will lose the strength of the fibers running through it by cutting it. I assume you want it for drive purposes?

[Bluejackets]

yea we were throwing some ideas around for a smaller track drive system using smaller rhino tracks.

[Electronica1]

If you want a different length, order it from brecoflex or something, don't try cutting it to make it shorter.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by RoboChair

1/10 would not recommend. You will lose the strength of the fibers running through it by cutting it. I assume you want it for drive purposes?

As someone who used tracks on our robot for many years I can confirm this. The tracks have wire fibers running down them that give them strength, cutting means you loose this.

A much better option would be to find the manufacturer of the tread and order them in a custom length as we did before AM sold them.

[nickbrickmaster]

Academically, why are you using tracks? It doesn't seem like anything in this game would require them, and they introduce additional complexities over using wheels.

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

As someone who used tracks on our robot for many years I can confirm this. The tracks have wire fibers running down them that give them strength, cutting means you loose this.

A much better option would be to find the manufacturer of the tread and order them in a custom length as we did before AM sold them.

The manufacturer will probably quote you around 2-3 weeks lead time on said custom belt. Having worked with them for my work.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by RoboChair

The manufacturer will probably quote you around 2-3 weeks lead time on said custom belt. Having worked with them for my work.

You're not wrong, the cost goes up substantially too. Back in the day we typically paid around $300 per track and ordered them at the very start of the build season (or ordered a lot of them and just used spares from past years).

We've since opted to go with a number of small wheels to get almost all of the advantages of tracks but without the need to use custom parts. The reliability is also much higher and the turning of the robot is far better since you don't have to deal with as much scrub.