Since there is no easy to quickly search through hundreds of CD photos of robots for ideas i was wondering how and what teams did for their chassis. I was stupid and did not take pictures of the different bots and nats last year and now i wish i had.
What did teams do for their chassis as far as; how did you build chassis-welded bolted or other? what type of wheeels did you use-if any? how did you power the wheels-chain belt gear box directly to wheel or other? what was your drive platform-4 wheel skid steer omni or other? pics would be greatly appreciated.
We direct drove the front right and back left wheels by means of flex coupling from the gearbox. pic All the wheels on each side were linked together with #25 sprockets and chain.
Le me know if you have any questions.
EDIT: We used button head machine screws to secure the tread to the hub. Rivets are another good option.
I knew there was another question i was gonna ask. For the teams that make your own wheels- How do you glue the said “grippy material” for lack of a better word to the hub?
This year, 1293 used the Kitbot in the low-rider configuration, all bolted up. Nothing terribly original, but it got us through Palmetto, two parades, and miscellaneous bouncing through the USC campus.
The year before, we used the aluminum in the KOP to weld together a monstrosity of a frame. I don’t think anyone weighed it by itself, but it had to have weighed 15-20 pounds. (We were rookies.)
229 welded the KOP chassis in a 6-wheel drive configuration with custom 4 inch wheels, and a custom 2-speed shift on the fly gearbox. We were very happy with how we designed and built our base. It got through FLR, Buckeye, the Championships, and RaChaCha Ruckus.
When it came to the wheels we just riveted the tread to the wheels. An adhesive will hold, but it is much harder to take and replace a tread if it becomes worn down. Not that rivets are much better, they can be ripped out of the tread and create problems such as getting the tread jammed between the chain and sprocket.
3/8" Al Plate!! That would weigh almost 20 lbs by itself. That’s seems a bit overkill, are you sure you don’t mean 3/16"?
Last we used a real simple low design for the chassis out of 3/4" x 1.5" rectangular Alumin tubing in the front and back, and then 3/4" x 1.75" C channel Alumin down the lengths to support the wheels. We welded it all up and used 6 wheel design with the kit transmissions linked up with #35 chain. We used nylon sprockets attached to our wheels which was simple since our custom 6" wheels had no hub.
