chains

[Hinkel Y.]

The chains for Blizzard V never broke, but the same can't be said about the gearbox...

[coreyjon]

I think we would all rather have a chain break then the gear box, although if everything is designed right, a key should break first before too much damage is caused to any key hard to replace component, or at least you would hope. I like to build everything strong enough, and robust enough to not worry, but the drill motor gear boxes where my weak link last season, but we powered along, and did a lot of pushing just with he cims, sometimes I would swear the drills had to be helping out the cims, but then I'd get it back in the pits, and sure enough, we would have wrecked another set of drill gb's. (plastic lock rings)

[sburro]

ok, I would like to thank all for the replies. Now, I read the thread that Steve W suggested and was wondering if anything came out of the tread design that Adam Y. was designing.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by sburro

ok, I would like to thank all for the replies. Now, I read the thread that Steve W suggested and was wondering if anything came out of the tread design that Adam Y. was designing.

I think in that thread, Adam was talking about an attachment chain style tank drive. Though I'm not sure about his particular results, I KNOW FIRST has seen this design many times in the past...

The Technokats - Team 45 made attachment chain treads famous.
(Some refer to them as "Techno-tracks")
Refer to their 1999, 2001, 2002 robot designs.

Many other teams have used similar systems as well.
Wildstang 2002 used a chain tread in their drop down tank.
(Why choose between a swerve and a tank drive? Just do both! Crazy!)

These "mean metal treads" aren't seen in FIRST anymore due to limitations on metal interacting with the playingfield. Some teams have modified their chain treads with non-metal cleats. (I believe the pictures I link to, are from team 885's 2003 robot.)

Many teams now prefer timing belt style treads.

I believe (from what I've heard from 45) when using a chain drive, difficulty often arises in keeping the chains from throwing off their driving sprockets. Side loads during turning will cause the chains to walk off their sprockets despite tensioning. When one uses timing belts, this problem still arises, but can be overcome by using timing belts with some form of built in, central allignment.

The merits of using a track drive, and of using various drivetrain types has been WELL discussed. Feel free to search previous discussions of these topics for more information.

It all boils down to simple physics!

Hope this helps,
John