AndyMark Plaction Wheels

[blayde5]

http://www.andymark.biz/am-0514.html

My team has started using these wheels this year and for the most part we get good performance out of them.

However we've noticed that AndyMark joins the treads with staples. During both of our competitions we've found the treads to start coming off and during one of our matches at SVR, the tread actually did come off.

To solve it we just riveted the ends of the tread and it seems to work okay.

Any other teams using these wheels have the same issue?

[Tom Line]

Pretty much all the teams I've talked to have the same issue.

They use one of two solutions:

1. More, bigger staples to keep the ends together
2. Rivet the tread to the wheel.

[Chris is me]

This happened to us too. I kinda expected it to happen. Riveting on the tread was one of those things we kept putting on the list of things to do, but never did.

Two rivets per wheel did the trick. Everyone should do this always.

[Edoc'sil]

if it comes off at a competition a drill and a zip tie does the trick as well too.

[Jamie Kalb]

This happened to us, too. Same issue, same solution.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Edoc'sil

if it comes off at a competition a drill and a zip tie does the trick as well too.

If you're already drilling the hole, why not rivet it? If you need a hand pop rivet gun, you can borrow my team's gun.

[eugenebrooks]

We had the treads come off during light testing just prior to ship.
We riveted, but the treads came loose again.

We solved the problem with a method identical to how
we used to make good wheels from KOP wheels. We cut
the flanges off and then sanded the rims using a belt sander
right on the robot. We usually use a lathe for this, but we
did not want to take 8 wheels off the robot at this point.
We made our own treads using incline belting from McMaster,
by carefully sanding the first layer of nylon off the backing,
just exposing the black rubber layer. We then cut the treads
and glued them on the wheels with mid-cure crazy glue, using
no rivets or screws, after cleaning the tread and the rim with
MEK (or acetone if you don't have MEK handy).

No tread came loose at SVR. When we rip a tread off of one
of these wheels, it leaves the black rubber from the tread on
the wheel rim all the way around. Screws or rivets are not
needed at all when using this gluing procedure. In the rare
event that a tread does start to peel we use some glue on
it and it rarely starts to peel again.

Eugene

[mahumnut]

our team trimmed the tread itself because it was overlapping the raised edges of the wheel, we then used rivets. After the DC regional, we ordered their aluminum version because the plastic ones kept on breaking when our robot went over the hump. Because our robot was 6 wheeled, the hump wasn't the smoothest trip crossing the zones.

[SteveGarward]

We hit this issue in the hour before shipping the robot. (We also sheared the bolts off one of the drive wheels and noticed the other drive wheels bolts were bent, but that's another story...).

We tried holding it on with tape just so we could practise prior to shipping, but it kept slipping out.

We had some spare wheels, so we changed them out at GSR prior to competition. These lasted a while (I think we were being careful) but by the end of Friday we had lot a tread again. We got it back together for Saturday, but lost the tread again in the next match.

Prior to crating it ready for Atlanta, we managed to get a couple of wheels ready, using contact glue on the tread AND rivets. Hopefully this will hold. Otherwise I'll either cry or just go home.

Ok, maybe not.. it's a long flight..

[Chris Fultz]

When you add screws or rivets, be sure to make them slightly off of the centerline of the wheel.

These wheels are molded plastic, and the seam is right in the center. By moving slightly off to each side, you are staying in stronger material.

Advice straight from the "manufacturer", so to speak.

[Jared Russell]

Same problem; same solution.

[thefro526]

Our Plaction wheels still have the standard staples from AM in them, and we haven't had any problems with them... yet.

*Scrambles to pack Rivet Gun and Rivets for next event*

[45Auto]

Obviously not many people on this thread read the AndyMark page on the Plaction wheels here:

http://andymark.biz/plactionwheel.html

Quote from the page:

Roughtop or Wedgetop conveyor belt material are used as replaceable treads on these wheels. For best use, install rivets into each end of the tread to insure the tread stays put under heavy usage.

First thing we did upon taking ours out of the box was to rivet the ends of the tread. Although we managed to break all of the bolts holding the sprocket onto one of the wheels in the semi-finals at the Bayou Regional, the wheel survived and we never had any problems with the tread.

Bayou Regional Champions with 1462 and 3362 - See you in Atlanta!

[MarkoRamius1086]

Those are amazing wheels! The traction and quality is superb, but ugh... We had the same problem with one of our wheels in the second to last match of the finals! We were going over the bump... and all of a sudden it stalled! You can see it on the youtube video... when we started over the bump the back tread came right off. I dont know if there is a channel that it popped out of... I didnt get a good look at it before we shipped it off. All I know is the moment our driver backed off of the bump, we had a tread lying on the field.

Seeing this thread I am certain we shall replace the stripped wheel with one from our prototype and then pop rivet all of them before the matches at NC. Has anyone pop-riveted the plaction wheels and has advice that could prove useful or critical? I saw the great post on not riveting on the centerline, thank you for that, but does anything else come up?

[Jared Russell]

Just make sure that the rivets you use are long enough to clear all of the way through the plastic.