This was our first shot at a modular chassis for this year. Developed to hold either 10" or 6" wheels as well as treads with 5 different ride heights. 2 Bolts allow the drive module or gearbox to be removed without disrupting the other. (Now if FIRST would only get rid of that pesky weigh in rule for sub assembly's!!!)
That looks very cool (and strong :yikes: )!
I’m just curious on how well it turns on carpet, or any surface for that matter, It just seems like the wheels have too much traction and are spaced too far apart for it to turn, without an immense amount of power going to the wheels. What are the reductions in the gearbox that allow for turning? and what is it’s top speed?
Thanks for the compliments.
Well, so far it has shown to turn pretty well on both flooring and carpet, the tires are indeed extremely grippy. We have a second set with a ‘street tread’, as well as (3) 6" wheels per side and treads all ready to fit in the module. Hopefully we will have all on display in the pits to show off the possibilities. The 2" tubes out the sides add quite a bit of rigidity to the drive modules.
In high we are looking at a max of about 7.5 ft/sec in low somewhere around 2 ft/sec. We toned it down from the past years to make more ‘usable’ power. And in low, it is a little tank, in fact I believe it will hold its own against the tanks this year based on our past 2 years tanks. Final version will have 2 CIM/s per side and we plan on shifting fast and often.
We will post the complete design after the season, it can all be cut out of a 2x4’ plate at a waterjet cutter, or laser for ~$400.
Pretty tough to beat with a milling machine and the intricate shapes are incredible.