pic: 114 Tank module design

[Madison]

Originally Posted by 114ManualLabor

The belts we are planning on using are from brecoflex, with the ridge in the middle to keep the belt centered. The backing, or the part that will contact the ground, is red linatex, which has been rated on FIRST carpet to have a 1.6 coefficient of friction.

I think Andy's speaking more about how the belt is driven -- suggesting toothed timing belt over flat belt. Timing belt is what most teams use, though it's possible to use flat belt if the drive is well designed. For the 2002 season, I helped design a very high traction tank drive system that used flat belts, for example.

My concern is that there's no apparent mechanism to tension the belt. My understanding is that belts need to be ordered with the expectation that they'll be stretched into or onto the drive. A robust tensioning device will allow you to more easily add or change belting and adjust the tension to prevent breaking the belts.

[Edit] I flipped it, and it turns out the gearbox is too tall, and stick below the treads. ah well. [/edit]

How far does it extend beyond the plane of the floor? It looks like you ought to be able to invert the gearbox and raise the height of the drive pulley from the floor to accomodate the new position of the gearbox.