pic: attachment chain tread

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by Tytus Gerrish

I dont know about that on in particular but i remember 45 had somthing like that long ago attaching plates to roler chain.

We did attachment chain with metal treads in 2002, with purchased attachment chain. In 1999 and 2001, we welded our own attachments onto standard chain (gosh, was that fun!), since FIRST's additional materials rules did not allow attachment chain during 2001 and before. Our 1999 robot (TKO)had half-rounds of EMT conduit, and 2001 had bent pieces of steel sheet metal attached to the chain. We did ALOT of filing and sanding on all of those cleats to make them smooth and not snag the carpet.

The same cleat design was used in 2002. Metal cleats provided great front to back grippy traction on carpet, and allowed for just the right amount of side skid for tank tread turning.

Then, we wanted to make softer treads for demos and such, so we molded some urethane cleats. Again, these gave us great traction while driving forward and reverse, but once we turned, the chains popped off. We even had the bottom middle idler sprocket lowered about 1/8" for ease of turning.

Good luck with this design... I would start with 1.5" wide cleats and a middle lowered idler of 1/4".

Andy B.