pic: Concept 8wd Drivetrain

[sdcantrell56]

Originally Posted by Cory

This is also true of any direct drive to the center wheel 6wd robot.

I'm always curious why so many people cite the desire to have a robot that can continue driving through multiple chain/sprocket/etc failures. In the hundreds of matches my teams have competed through, as well as our collaborative partners, I have only ever witnessed two chains break-in both cases it was a sprocket failure.

If your drivetrain is well designed and the chains are properly tensioned, the odds of losing a chain, let alone more than one chain are nearly negligible.

I do agree with you and in fact with all of the teams I have been a part of, I have never had a chain break. The first year we had multiple chains come off of sprockets, but ever actually had one break. I guess I am always worrisome and because of this like to design redundancy into the system. I do agree though it is probably unnecessary as long as the chain is properly aligned and tensioned there is really a very minimal chance of breaking, even with #25 chain.