pic: Brakes.. Deploy!

[AcesJames]

Originally Posted by V_Chip

Our brake system guarantees that once deployed, we do not move AT ALL. Say if an alliance member went to double balance with us, we usually offer to be the immobile member of the balancing act. Once on the bridge, we plant our brakes. If unbalanced and tipped in our direction, the brakes guarantee that we do not slip and roll off.

Our current configuration of plaction tread wheels may have plenty of grab on the carpet, but are quite slippery on lexan. The pneumatic brakes have an insured non-slip grip pad on the bottom. If the brakes are down, we're not going anywhere.

After looking at your machine at BAE, I thought I spotted your brakes covered in black roughtop tread, am I right?

I only ask because you posted that the wheels are slippery on lexan but not on carpet, while the brake pads are grippy on both, and I had thought that the material on your brakes appeared to be the same material as the tread on your wheels.

From the testing I did, roughtop tread had a reasonable CoEF on the bridge, so part of me wants to say the reason you found you were sliding off the bridge before adding brakes wasn't because of the tread's CoEF, but because of the fact that your drivetrain PWMs were probably in coast mode, and you simply rolled off the bridge (your CIMs were backdriving).

Of course, I definitely could be wrong. I'd love an official 175 answer.