pic: 2012 frc971 transmission

[Cory]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

MICHAELABICK brings up a good point. What lead you guys to use belts? I've done a few weighted design tables to compare them with chain, and they would only win with an extraneous "quite operation" or "coolness" category.

What benefits (other than the above, which shouldn't really be considered in a design) led you to use belts on your bot this year? As I see it, they add a lot of lead time and cost for parts that need to be ordered and can't really be reused in many situations (unlike chains and sprockets). I believe I read a report a few months ago that concluded that the efficiency benefits from belts over chains are marginal at least for FRC. If belts cost more, take longer to get, and don't perform much better than chain, was there some other factor that led you to chose them?

Weight is an obvious reason. Pulleys are all aluminum and belt is vastly lighter than chain.