Roughtop or Wedgetop?

[Chickenonastick]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Where do you get black roughtop?

http://www.mcmaster.com/#rough-top-belts/=j4dcax

As far as the black tread goes, you would want the Extra-Grip SBR, not the "Oil-Resistant Neoprene."

[Brandon Zalinsky]

Originally Posted by Ekcrbe

We used black roughtop on 4x1.5" and 4x2" IFI wheels, and they're still running strong after five competitions and ~18 demos. The tread on our center wheels is worn considerably, but they're not bald and the robot still drives fine.

I also second the point on cutting tread with the band saw.

It's great that they've lasted that long, i thought the constant turning would rip those things apart.

[Ekcrbe]

Originally Posted by Flak-Bait

It's great that they've lasted that long, i thought the constant turning would rip those things apart.

I'm not really the parts lifespan expert, but from the responses here, I'm a little surprised too. We've got one more offseason event, and they'll have probably had enough after that.

[CalTran]

Kind of a thread bump, but between blue nitrile and black SBR, what do people suggest?

[Tom Line]

Where is blue nitrile available in the correct width for plaction wheels?

[MichaelBick]

You have to cut the blue nitrile to size with a bandsaw.

From what I've heard, 1.5" wide Colsons and 1" wide Roughtop have roughly the same traction. Colsons have better performance on surfaces that aren't carpet, like the bridge this year. If you increase the width of roughtop however, you can get really good traction on carpet. 973 ran 2" wide roughtop in 2011 and they could push everyone.

[Aren_Hill]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

Where is blue nitrile available in the correct width for plaction wheels?

Mcmaster Nitrile and a bandsaw or shear

[roystur44]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

In our experience the blue roughtop wears like a champ (under FRC applications, not cement). It easily last a season of competition before being completely worn. We generally replace it after 2 events just to make sure we're running the freshest of tread.

It cuts really nicely on a bandsaw, razor blades are not the right tool for the job. Table saws also do an excellent job.

I'll second Adams statement. We used a band saw and a jig to cut our thread. After 5 events our comp bot with Blue Nitrile threads aren't showing signs of wear. We ran on carpet, 6 wheel drop, have 3.5 inch diameter x 2.0 inch wide wheels and run a fast drive train. We had great traction on the ramps. The trick was to not spin the wheels to hard. We easily pushed around any robot due to low COG, low bumpers, balanced weight distribution, and we had angles on our super structure panels above our bumpers.