Carpet Traction: Treads or Surface Area

[ChrisH]

The diamond pattern belt used by Kingman was Brecoflex. At least that's what they told us. However we found a similar belt from another vendor. In tests we could not tell the difference. The diamond pattern belt digs into the carpet like a file card and is very effective. We originally had it on our wheels this year.

However in one of our matches in San Jose we got into a shoving match with the Cheesy Poofs. I think they were using the same belt on their tires. Both robots needed new tread after that. The real bummer was we had just replaced the treads going into the match. After that we developed metal cleated wheels that work just fine and don't wear out, at least if you keep them on carpet.

[Jeff Waegelin]

We used the same belting that Wildstang used in 2001 the past two years, with mixed results. In 2001, the belting worked incredibly. Without it, we couldn't even go up the bridge with 2 goals. However, we had a 6-wheel drive system and a narrower, half-width belt.

This year, we used the same material, but at full width and on a 4-wheel skid steer system. It gave us all the traction we needed, but didn't last nearly as long. We had to replace the tread 3 times before we finally changed belt types. We ended up going with a slightly lower-friction belt from a local supplier, but it was tougher and cheaper than the other stuff. We had been paying about $100 per belt, but with the new stuff, we could do 8 wheels for the price of one belt. We used it for Florida practice and IRI with no problems, and it's still in good shape. If anyone is interested, I may be able to harass our team leader and get the name, but I don't have it right now.

[sanddrag]

Don't harass anyone but I'm definitely interested

[Gary Dillard]

I didn't ask Kingman what their belt was, but from Matt's picture I'm pretty sure it's the conveyor belt stuff and not Brecoflex - they're not even close to the same fabrication. Another team gave me a sample of theirs and said it was the same as Kingman's. It didn't do too well in our pull tests.

One other nice thing about the Brecoflex belts is the backside design - we went through several designs in previous years to keep them from slipping off the tracks during high speed turning and these worked really nicely.

[Matt Reiland]

I think the rib in the picture is what Gary is referring to, we are going to play around with it later in the fall to try out a tank design. Word of caution they are expensive almost 150 bucks a track!

[Mike Soukup]

Originally posted by Gary Dillard
Yeah, the Kingman tread is the same as Wild Stang used in 2002 - it's wedge top conveyor belt available from McMaster-Carr. It only measured about 140-150# on the traction test.

We didn't use same material as Kingman this year. It was almost identical to our 2001 belt except it was tan and it didn't have the annoying habit of seperating from its backing. Instead of the diamond pattern that Kingman had, it had the peaks like 2001. I think theirs was rubbery, ours wasn't. If you want more info I can ask Raul.

BTW - the Wild Stang "tank" that they engaged (file cards inside metal cleats) only bumped them up to about 160# traction, which was surprising.

Yes we only got 160# with the tank, but I think it was without any added normal force so the cleats were slipping. If we added some force the number shot up. Unfortunately we weren't able to lift the goals as well as other teams and couldn't take full advantage of the power of our tank.

Sure left some impressive marks on our wedge though

You had to bring it up, didn't you That was one of the most exciting sets of matches I saw this year, thanks for the fun

Mike