pic: Team 1501 wheels



Sprockets…$20.00
PVC pipe and end caps…$9.00
Conveyor belt material…donated
Mega traction…Priceless

Yall are seriously going to have some insane traction. I’m scared that alot of teams are going to be showing up with stuff like this. It took me a litte while to figure out that two of the wheels in the pics are reflections.

Two? I only see one wheel. The one wheel does look very nice though.

Theres two, they are just flush to each other in the middle…

I’m very interested to hear how they hold up with a 150 lbs on them. I’ve wanted to try PVC wheels for a while, and I’ve never gotten around to them. Kind of like the simple, cost effective way to go if they hold up.

Just remember that extra wide wheels != more traction. It is the weight of the robot on the wheels that causes more traction.

I’m very interested to hear how they hold up with a 150 lbs on them. I’ve wanted to try PVC wheels for a while, and I’ve never gotten around to them. Kind of like the simple, cost effective way to go if they hold up.

We used them last year and I will take our robot against 95% of the other robots in a pushing contest. We never had a failure.
One of the belts came off at the first matchup but we still had the other belt. We just JB welded it back on.

Two? I only see one wheel.

I see six wheels :ahh: There is only one. It’s an optical delusion :smiley:

We also have a wheel with only one strip of conveyor belt material. We will use them for going up the ramp. Smaller width means more weight on wheels.
Our robot will be four wheel drive on a six wheel base. The two front ones are non-driven omni wheels. The back four are all driven but only the back two will contact the floor. The front two are a 1/4 of an inch off the floor, but will contact the ramp when we drive up it.

Most excellent - I’ll be trying these in the off season to build up our collection of lower cost, great idea type of parts. Thanks!!

So it isn’t one wheel. I was going to say, that’s a bit overkill.

I do like the traction you’re going to get though.

Am I the only person that thinks maybe this game is not all about traction?

i s’pose thats a rhetorical question…:slight_smile:
on a well designed robot, good traction doesn’t just mean better pushing force, it also means faster acceleration, deceleration, and sharper turns (less time spent slipping wheels during the beginning of sudden velocity/direction changes).

so no, this game isn’t all about traction, but traction won’t be trivial, either.

Perhaps not all about traction, but I’d certainly prefer to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. (The addition of a good diet of roughtop to Chomp has made it far more driveable than Ockham ever was.)

I’m looking at the wheels, and I’d guess they’re 4" or so in diameter by the sprocket. Where did y’all get the end caps for them? They look different than the ones I’ve seen at Lowe’s.

I’m looking at the wheels, and I’d guess they’re 4" or so in diameter by the sprocket. Where did y’all get the end caps for them? They look different than the ones I’ve seen at Lowe’s.

We got them at the local hardware store. They are a bit on the large size, so we take them down about .050" :ahh:
Overall diameter is 5"

As for needing traction. I think it will play small part if you want to defend your 1 point goals. You may have to push back. Also getting up the ramp isn’t going to as easy as some would think.

lol now does it have something to do with the diamond plate? cool wheels by the way.