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Originally Posted by brennerator
So first of all the gearbox drives the back wheel which drives the middle which then drives the front. This exact setup worked for us last year.
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Ah, that makes more sense. It's difficult to tell which plane the gearbox sprocket lies in. You mention below that the sprocket models are not accurate, so I presume that the differing diameters is one aspect that's incorrect.
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Second: as to the question of eclips or spacers, last year we used shaft collars to space things out; this year we are looking for a more effective spacer. The spacer will be used ON the axel on the front and back axels to align the sprocket. The question was phrased incorrectly.
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I don't have too much experience with retaining clips in high torque applications, but I'm sure someone like Cory will be along to tell more about their experiences. Anecdotally, I'd say they're probably an effective alternative.
We've used thin-walled Aluminum tubing as a spacer material in the past. It's effective but cumbersome.
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Third: the hubs are custom made.
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As long you're certain that the length through bore is greater than that of the IFI traction wheel, I think you'll be okay. I'm not sure how well the new iteration of the IFI wheels will take to being hit by other robots from the side, however. Last year, some folks had problems with the sidewalls collapsing.
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Fourth: our frame is made of aluminum tubing .125" thick. Therefore i do not know if we can make a slot to lock down the pillowblock bearing (off the shelf). We were thinking of using different material to make our chassis out of, but we had some success with this tubing last year. Can anybody offer insight on what material we should use?
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Creating the slots for tensioning is a pretty straightforward operation if you have access to a mill.
If you remain concerned about cantilevering load so far from your frame (and you don't have the capacity to properly calculate the effects of that on your materials), consider switching to a wider frame rail. Inverting the pillow blocks into the frame rail would reduce the distance between the wheels and the frame.
Speaking generally, it's very important that you provide as much information to us as possible so that we can make informed comments and answers to your questions. It's difficult to critique a design when critical pieces of information are missing.