<R35> - Adhesive Tape

[Rick]

QandA already ruled against grip tape.

http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=1314

[Ben Piecuch]

Since I designed and fabricated those tensioners, I can tell you that we did not used any sort of grip-tape between the tensioner and the bolt. We make sure to use as large of a washer as we could, to increase the loaded surface area. As long as your contact area on both sides is large enough, these types of tensioners should not slip on you.

If you find that you're having problems with them slipping, you can always use a "toothed washer" to help grip against the material.

This should alleviate your "grip tape" dilemna.

BEN

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Ben Piecuch

Since I designed and fabricated those tensioners, I can tell you that we did not used any sort of grip-tape between the tensioner and the bolt. We make sure to use as large of a washer as we could, to increase the loaded surface area. As long as your contact area on both sides is large enough, these types of tensioners should not slip on you.

If you find that you're having problems with them slipping, you can always use a "toothed washer" to help grip against the material.

This should alleviate your "grip tape" dilemna.

BEN

Ben, we have used that same design as well sucessfully, but I did have one question for you. When you torque them down nice and tight after tensioning the chains, the chain seems to make grooves in the Delrin. Nothing a simple readjustment can't fix but sometimes the forces at work make an even more interesting problem.

Basically, if you only attach the delrin rods on one end, they tend to bend away from what they are mounted on. Just wondering if you had a solution for that or even ran into that problem?

If you don't get what I mean as of yet, I'll grab a pic and link it tomorrow or later tonight.

[Mike Betts]

I would suggest that you check into one or two part epoxy paints intended for use on garage floors. These floor epoxies have fine or course grained additives (sand, et cetera) which can be added to the paint before application. This treatment gives the paint a sandpaper texture which should be just as good as the non-slip tapes being discussed here and would be completely legal on a FIRST robot.

Another alternative is cloth backed sandpaper applied with an epoxy adhesive.

Rules are rules. Spend your time coming up with alternative solutions rather than complaining about rules you don't like.

JMHO...

Mike

[Ben Piecuch]

Elgin,

The further out your chain is from the side wall, the larger the bending forces on your tensioner. So, you either need a bigger/stronger bolt, or you need to reduce the load on the bolt. You can either bring the chain in closer to the wall, or create a wider base on your tensioner. The wider base will help counter-act the bending load in conjuntion with the bolt. We typically use a 1.5" - 2" diameter HDPE rod and if required, we'll turn down the center of the OD to create a flanged tensioner.

The grooves you're finding in the tensioner will develop over time. The harder the plastic you use, the better. HDPE, Acetal, Delrin are all good choices. Polypropylene and Teflon are softer, and while they provide excellent low-friction surfaces, they also wear away much quicker.

BEN