Colson 101

[sdcantrell56]

Originally Posted by Jared341

Is there a source for COTS live axle Colson hubs? Not that these are terrible difficult to make, just wondering.

No COTS source yet. I believe RC will be offering them in the future.

2415 has used colsons for the past 2 years as well. Last year we swapped to them after using custom treaded wheels and the increase in performance was noticeable. This year we strayed to pneumatic wheels to deal with the bump and were incredibly disappointed with the performance. We have just finished swapping to colsons for a weight savings of 2.5lbs and again the increase in performance is night and day. We will not be using any other wheels in the future.

[JakeD]

All my experience has been with the standard KOP wheels, as well as the andy mark Plaction wheels with both rough and wedge top. I've always found the wedge top to out preform on HDPE and other non carpeted materials but the rough top to maintain traction better on carpet. It seems to be relatively widely noticed that the Colson wheels out preform the rough top on HDPE and has similar performance on carpet but has anyone compared them to the wedge top?

[sdcantrell56]

Originally Posted by JakeD

All my experience has been with the standard KOP wheels, as well as the andy mark Plaction wheels with both rough and wedge top. I've always found the wedge top to out preform on HDPE and other non carpeted materials but the rough top to maintain traction better on carpet. It seems to be relatively widely noticed that the Colson wheels out preform the rough top on HDPE and has similar performance on carpet but has anyone compared them to the wedge top?

Colsons stick much better than roughtop or wedgetop to anything other than carpet.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by JakeD

All my experience has been with the standard KOP wheels, as well as the andy mark Plaction wheels with both rough and wedge top. I've always found the wedge top to out preform on HDPE and other non carpeted materials but the rough top to maintain traction better on carpet. It seems to be relatively widely noticed that the Colson wheels out preform the rough top on HDPE and has similar performance on carpet but has anyone compared them to the wedge top?

Rougtop and Wedgetop are extremely similar because they are made from all the same materials (either nitrile or natural rubber). The geometry of the tread pattern does create slightly different performance characteristics, but compared to different wheel types (pneumatic, colson, etc) the differences are huge.

-Brando

[jwfoss]

If you are local and interested in checking out both the dead axle hub or a hex live axle plug, FRC2168 always has spares to show to other teams (and judges).

We've already competed at NYC, and will be at the CT regional in a couple days. Feel free to stop by.

There are also a bunch of pictures on our teams website and on my personal/robotics blog.

[Adam Freeman]

Justin / Andrew / Brandon,

Thanks for the great information. I will pursue this option with the team to see if this will improve our performance consistency in Hybrid.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

I will pursue this option with the team to see if this will improve our performance consistency in Hybrid.

Perhaps we should have kept HOT in the dark about this matter...

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

So on a standard 27x54 flat carpet field, what advantages will Colsons give over regular treaded wheel?

I'm also wondering about this, because the wheels my team has experience with are either 8" pneumatics from Granger, KOP grey tread wheels, mecanums, or the lunacy wheels. I'm not sure I could convince the team to switch to Colsons unless I could convey there is an absolute advantage to their use over other wheels, including fabrication of our own wheels.

[Ty Tremblay]

Does anyone know where I can find a CAD model for these wheels? I know they're easy enough to make on my own, but I'm a stickler for detail.

[Richard Wallace]

3620 used 8" Colson Performa wheels with the WCP hub this year. It required an outboard bearing adapter, but that was easy to make out of Delrin.

Look here for pictures.

[AlexH]

Robot Marketplace also sells colsons with a sprocket and bearing pressed into them. http://www.robotmarketplace.com/prod...it_wheels.html

[AdamHeard]

I've heard rumors and claims over the year over the actual numbers and how high they are (for traction), but have yet to see anyone do real testing and post.

Anyone done it?

[JackS]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

I've heard rumors and claims over the year over the actual numbers and how high they are (for traction), but have yet to see anyone do real testing and post.

Anyone done it?

Art Dutra's results here.

JVN's data here.

This is our first year with colsons. We have 6x1.5" wheels and the robot is much harder to push laterally vs our 4x1" roughtop wheels from last year. We made simple press in plugs and didn't even knurl them.

[JesseK]

How would one go about cutting the diamond pattern in the tread like what Art posted?

Conceptually, I can think of a way to draw the pattern on the wheel and then use a mill -- but is there a more efficient way to do it?

Originally Posted by JesseK

How would one go about cutting the diamond pattern in the tread like what Art posted?

Conceptually, I can think of a way to draw the pattern on the wheel and then use a mill -- but is there a more efficient way to do it?

Also, how deep should the pattern be?

[Jared Russell]

I would think a jig and a saw would do the trick.