Tank Treads

[llama1719]

How about a half track?

[rkelly23]

You would need to do some rather extensive thinking about the suspension. Our team is kicking this idea around and my hint is to go look at the mechanical structures of military tanks. Any other comments about tank treads and teams that are planning to use them are highly appreciated.

[viperred396]

Originally Posted by llama1719

How about a half track?

Half track?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by viperred396

Half track?

Wheels on one end, tank tracks on the other.

[Andrew.Jensen]

Originally Posted by EricH

Wheels on one end, tank tracks on the other.

We were considering that, but in the end we decided to go with a whole tread. I forget the reasoning, however. But even so, it would still not change the question of where to get some treads for a reasonable price

[Jerry]

Hi, Could you use the Tank Tread kit from Vex??


http://www.vexrobotics.com/276-2168.html

[viperred396]

Originally Posted by EricH

Wheels on one end, tank tracks on the other.

As Andrew said we did consider it but then we decided not to because we think that the tracks will help us navigate the humps easier

As of now we were thinking about maybe adapting snowblower tracks to suit our needs

[Andrew.Jensen]

Originally Posted by viperred396

As Andrew said we did consider it but then we decided not to because we think that the tracks will help us navigate the humps easier

As of now we were thinking about maybe adapting snowblower tracks to suit our needs

Me and Bill were discussing finding synchronous conveyor belts, but they were rather expensive, like $400 a piece.

[EricH]

You could try http://www.andymark.biz/am-0566.html or http://www.andymark.biz/am-0565.html for some belting material. AndyMark also sells 1" wide x 10' long pieces, officially for use on a plaction wheel. Nothing says you can't put some 1" wide pieces of different types side-by-side to get a tread. You'd still have to figure out how to connect the ends, though.

[Andrew.Jensen]

Thank you, EricH, that might work well! It's cheap too! Just have to figure out how to rig it to work....

[Cory]

Originally Posted by EricH

You could try http://www.andymark.biz/am-0566.html or http://www.andymark.biz/am-0565.html for some belting material. AndyMark also sells 1" wide x 10' long pieces, officially for use on a plaction wheel. Nothing says you can't put some 1" wide pieces of different types side-by-side to get a tread. You'd still have to figure out how to connect the ends, though.

Roughtop or wedgetop would be totally useless as the backing is smooth. You want a tread with backing. Transmitting power through a slick surface is not a very good idea.

[Akash Rastogi]

I would recommend Brecoflex for the final design but for prototyping, inverted and double sided timing belt is an appropriate substitute as the pulleys (wheel?) for Brecoflex would take time to order and ship.

[Ross340]

one thing you may want to look into are blower belts. aka supercharger belts. they come 2-3'' wide and you're not gonna skip or strip the teeth off of or break or stretch one of those puppies. ever. they can be pricey but come in a wide range of sizes.

[M. Mellott]

Team 48 has used Brecoflex belts with a lot of success over the years. Several pictures of past systems are available on CD. Some pointers:

• Keep the belts properly tensioned, but not too tight

• Protect the tread from sideload stresses as much as possible by using mutiple wheels/sliders along the area of the belt that contacts the ground, and keeping the "open" distance between the wheels/sliders to a minimum

• Use a belt profile with a middle inner rib as opposed to flanged wheels--we typically used TK10-K13

• If memory serves me right, we were using an 1880mm long belt with 4" wheels (2" boggie wheels) in our 36"-long tread module, and those belts were about $350...EACH...three years ago

Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I have to add something for the teams using tank treads...
Turning on carpet with treads causes extreme electrical loads on your control system. A tight turn is guaranteed to put drive motors into stall. Stall currents on CIM motors is 129 amps each. A four motor drive will draw 516 amps and effectively lower the terminal voltage of the battery by almost 6 volts.