We bought flathead bolts and countersunk all of the heads that were on the bottom of the chassis so they are flush with the bottom. This is pretty easy to do and will solve your problem.
Hope this helps!
Rob
P.S. your setup should work great if you are powering all four wheels, you will have to do testing to determine if there is enough traction to manuver with only 2 powered wheels (its probably fine though)
in 2003 our robot had wheelie bars that were spring loaded so when the bot started to move the wheels pulled a string that pulled a pin to release the bars, it was light weight easy to make and replace. And it saved our bot from tipping more times then i can count.
Rob, you think it would be a good idea to power the omnis on the front? With so little traction, would it matter? I suppose they have high forward and backward traction, so it would be good to drive them for that reason. But it wouldn’t help for turning.
I was watching your third episode of American Robot and saw that you guys have a whole lot of control even with high traction wheels on the front and back (and middle!). Maybe it would be better to just put non-omnis on the front and drive them?
I already made an Ace Hardware run and bought all the bolts I need, and a new countersyncing bit, for mounting our electronics. I didn’t even consider that we could countersync those chassis bolts. Duh! Thanks for the wake up call.
Team 11 is gonna be cruisin .25" off the ground this year. Our frame is also gonna be very effective in the anti-tipping ability. Our arm also has the ability to right the robot up, and we will most likely have a set of outriggers (wheelie bars)
Well, here are my thoughts. Remember that these are just opinions based on how I like the robot to manuver. You have to decide if you want to be able to be a pusher or have high manuverability. It sounds like you are going for manuverability. I prefer to have a robot turn around its own center, and if you have 2 powered wheels at the back it will turn around the back end. I just think this makes it easier for the driver to control.
Now, if you add powered non-omni wheels on the front, you have to recall that the wheels will be sliding sideways when you turn, causing friction. This can be both good and bad. A good amount of friction will make the turns very controllable as the robot will fishtail less. Too much friction will make you turn slow and draw lots of current while doing so. You really want a trade off of thiese elements. There are many threads on these boards about drivetrain ideas, and 2 vs. 4 vs. 6 wheel drive. Many people have offered their experience and knowlege to those debates. I suggest searching for them and reading up on them. Rember that your drivetrain should be a function of what you want to do, so set some performance goals and then give it some thought.
Also remember to test out your machine at the full competition weight! Try it with your current configuration, you might find that you like it alot and want to keep it.
Im glad the countersinking helped…
Best of luck, and feel free to PM me or some of the “much more knowlegable than me” people on the boards if you have any further questions!
Rob
does anyone know how the HDPE is attached to the field? is it velcroed to the carpet, and if so, how does this affect the height of the HDPE? (i.e. will the velcro add 1/8" to the height, making the loding zone .375")
yea Team 637 knows what it feels like to flip… NOT FUN. were goin low too… not a quarter inch… but low.
http://www.njfirst.org/galleries.htm
check out the upside down Marotta logo pic
358 used to be .25’’ but now we’re about an inch.
I was really worried about flipping and crushing tetras this year too… everyone tells me that i’m exaggerating the danger, but i still vividly remember riding up onto balls many many times both last year and three years ago.