grip on dusty plywood

[greencactus3]

as a kinda off topic from usfirst, im looking for a tread material, tire material, tire width, size, you get the idea.. that might have the best traction in dusty surfaces, namely plywood. or if thats a bit hard, even on plywood, note not polished wood. and to give an idea this is basically for a sumobot application, but if anyone has any ideas or links to useful sites with this info, please teach me, thanks!. oh and a durable tire material would be nice. by the way, it would be supporting at the minimum 50lbs each. more when pressure is applied, assuming it doesnt slip. so each tire/wheel would be necessary to be rated at least id think 75lbs.
and myself im thinking a soft, gummy tipe of rubber tire would be nice? anyone know where to find any of those? (and since it wont be taking highspeed corners and such, probably wont warm up too well so i think gokart tires are off, unless they make idunno. teach me lol.

[Denman]

our mentor brought us in some little square blocks of rubber, maybe an inch or 2 by 3 or 4. I think unfortuneately they are like 5 or so years old so i dont know if they still make them. One of them could pretty much take its own weight when vertical on a hard back book. I'll ask about it for you on thursday.

[Andy A.]

Check out Skyway wheels. The bead-lok line looks promising.
http://www.skywaytuffwheels.com/products_002.htm

They make a wide range of wheels though. The ones that sprung to mind are intended for powered applications like robotics. Their tread is designed to produce traction on a wide range of materials, supporting weights in the neighborhood your talking of. They have a good range of sizes and hub options.

Besides that, they are (relatively) cheap! The folks there have been very good to FIRST teams in the past and seem to genuinely like dealing with small guys like us. Mention its for a robotics project and they will probably get into it. You may even be able to talk to their engineers about their products, and get their view.



-Andy A.

[sanddrag]

The Bead-Lok wheels generally come with a foam type tire that is not very durable at all. You might want to look and see what you can find at www.robotmarketplace.com

[Camerzn]

Originally Posted by greencactus3

that might have the best traction in dusty surfaces, namely plywood.

If it's not against the rules, it might be worth it to adapt tools as wheels. Considering you are supporting 50 pounds per wheel, mayhaps some sort of metal spike system is in order, that would dig into the wood itself. Or perhaps, if you were to get four of those drill bits for drilling really big holes in wood, or even just four hefty masonry bits, and mount them on an angle to the ground, that would provide best traction.

Think outside the box. Don't be afraid to cut the wood if it's not against the rules.

[greencactus3]

umm hmm you're right i gotta check the rules. thankx everyone