My team is currently designing/prototyping a belt/roller system to collect the balls. We are looking at some of the '09 bots for roller materials, but I was wondering if other teams could give us some feedback on materials and their pros and cons.
the roller itself: We plan to use PVC, and make some sort of hub.
Grip material: I really am not sure what to use. We’re considering polycord, hockey tape, pool noodle, maybe banebot wheels… I’m really need suggestions on how to do this; I don’t have much experience with many of these materials. Also, are there different types of polycord we need to look into? (I think we have orange solid polyurethane from 2009 that we can weld together with a heat gun)
Other suggestions? Let me know if you think we are going about this wrong.
We’ve used wedgetop “tread” like is used on wheels. McMaster Carr sells it as conveyor belting.
also, instead of PVC, try ABS sewer pipe, it weighs less and won’t explode. We had a PVC ball collecting roller explode in 2006 when another robot ran into ours
If you have the resources you can take ABS tubing 2"OD and 1"ID and lathe it with poly cord grooves and a R8 ball bearing press fit groove on either end. We did this in 09 with our conveyor system.
If you’re going to use the polyurethane (which I’d recommend, we’ve used it in two robots past) make sure you get the hollow tube material, not the solid cylinder. The pipe material comes with metal barbs that can fasten two sides together, whereas the solid core material must be melted together. Just a suggestion.
Here’s a link to a really good thread to peruse at your leisure. It basically discussed the merits of polyurethane tube belts.