How are teams attaching tread to the VEX traction wheels? There are no rivet holes, or other obvious ways to attach it. Are we supposed to drill our own holes?
Thanks in advance!
Adam
We successfully drilled our own rivet holes into the wheels.
Where did you drill the rivet holes? There are hills and valleys on the wheel, and we weren’t sure how exactly to do it.
You can drill your own holes or if you feel like doing it a slightly messier way, you can always glue but rivets/screws are the best option.
We used the AndyMark alligator clips. They seem to be holding up pretty well so far with our limited driving. We made the treads really snug and we are not seeing any slipping on the wheel. If necessary, we will add some rivets.
We attach them by cutting the two ends of the tread at angles that mesh together. Then you can fit more rivets than just the width of the wheel. We contacted Vex and they said that it doesn’t matter whether a rivet is placed on a “hill” or “valley.”
I was in charge of attaching the tire treads and i drilled my own rivet holes the only issue i had was keeping the tire tread tight round the wheel so watch out for that. I had to redo it multiple times.
Hi Adam,
Last fall I experimented with a few things including rivets, self-tapping plastic screws, and glue. The best results involved large-head 1/8" rivets (they are available from places like McMaster, and we sell a pack here: http://www.vexrobotics.com/217-0396.html).
My preferred method is as follows…
I cut the tread to size (if you feel fancy, make it so the seam is a “/” which is at an angle not parallel to the wheel axis), then zip-tied the tread in place. Once in place, I drilled my rivet holes, 3x on each side of the seam, and then installed my rivets. It did not seem to make a difference if the rivets fell on the high or low parts of the “toothed” wheel rim as long as I made sure I had good engagement. The quality of the seam is everything – spend time figuring out the size of the tread you want, and cutting it to shape. That is a mistake my team frequently makes over the years, we’ve found that by spending more time on the seam we’re much happier with the result.
Some people will also sprinkle rivets along the outside of the wheel periodically, but I’m a big believer in the “if you pull the tread tight so it can’t bunch up, and you get a good seam attachment, you don’t need to do this” method.
Your Mileage May Vary… I hope you’re season is going well so far!
Good luck.
-John