What teams have desgined a 6 wheel drive system?

[Wayne C.]

Originally Posted by JVN

Doug has gotten to the heart of the matter here.

The 6-wheel drive with the lowered middle wheel GREATLY increases the turning of the robot. I know MANY teams who implemented such a system.

My main question is...
What distance do you drop your middle wheel?

I spoke to Steve from 254 and he told me they use 3/16" (as Doug mentioned above). I spoke to others who said they use a full 1/2".

What does everyone else use?

Lately, in all my pre-season design efforts I've used 3/16. I don't really have any good reason for it; other than Steve said it works for them. (And I LOVE their robot in action...)

Anyone?

John

John-
Although it seems to make sense and would make design interesting we have never moved any of the center wheels from our machines out of line from the rest. We want the deep grab traction for the motors and pushing power. And I think any who play us will agree that the machines are speedy and maneuverable. We use two joystick tank drive on the machines and they can spin in place with no problem at all.

Perhaps the answer to this is the fact that we have such wide wheels (custom made from Skyway wheels) and a gearbox with great power. We are probably horsing the machine around so much when we turn that the coefficient of friction on the center wheel is negligible. We usually give the machines the "Big Mike" test- if they can shove him away they are strong enough. If we lowered the center wheel we negate the traction we are looking for back to 4 wheel drive.

WC