My team and i are looking on wheels options for wheels that will be able to take the drop from the second platform. I’ve seen that a lot of teams in my district are using Colson wheels, and would be happy to hear from your experience about them or any other option.
Colson wheels can take 10X whatever any FRC team dishes out; they are, though, still a hard wheel, and will not provide any cushioning when you drive either off or or up to HAB 2. Pneumatics (either the 6" or 8") give better cushioning and traction, but wear much more quickly and don’t help with precision actions, like autonomous placement. So both can be good choices depending on what you want to achieve.
How quickly do these wear?
We went through more than two full sets of tires in 2016, two regionals plus Champs.
So my team purchased these wheels how quickly do you think these will wear?
We used those in 2016 also. I think we had an extra set for our center drop on a six wheel drive. I don’t think we ever went through and had to swap out the other four wheels(two districts, MSC, Worlds). You do need to worry about tire pressure though, the rubber itself will support the robot and appear inflated, but your auton and performance will suffer.
And it would be a good idea to have at least two ready to swap out in the event of a flat
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We also used the AndyMark pneumatic wheels in 2016 with no noticeable wear. Maybe it had to do with how much air our robot got, especially when going through the Portcullis.
To the OP, it isn’t just a matter of whether your wheels will take the drop. If you use the pneumatic tires, they inherently act as a shock absorber and the stresses on your axles, the axle bearings, the chassis and everything mounted on the chassis is reduced. If you use tires that are more “solid”, they won’t absorb much of the shock forces so the stresses on the wheel hubs, the axles, the axle bearings, the chassis and everything mounted on the chassis is greater. If you design to accommodate that, you will be okay. It also depends on how violently you intend to make the drop from the platform.
Just curious, has anyone ever tried stuffing pool noodles into pneumatic tires, and if so, what were the results?
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171 Did this in 2016 and had no issues with it.
Do you know if they also pressurized the tires? (presumably just a few psi)
No we did not pressurize the tires after pool noodling them. They held up for two regionals well.
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