Pretty good parts, are you going to make a 8-wheeled robot?
I’m betting on six and spares.
Still…did I catch a whiff of West Coast Drive?
Looks pretty sweet. Billfred or someone else, could you explain what is West Coast Drive? I’ver heard of the West Coast Offense, but never of the Drive.
Thanks.
West Coast Drive, loosely defined, is the small-wheeled, cantilevered setup made famous by 254, 968, 22, 4, 980, and 60 at various points in history.
And such setups by Rage, Gael Force, and the Rhode Warriors are insignificant? :mad: 
Actually, I don’t know very much on when these things were around, my knowledge of robots (other than very, very good ones) effectively starts in '05. Where such setups pioineered by the teams Billfred mentioned before they were adopted by the East Coast?
Nice parts. Poor lathe operator though, must’ve taken a while to turn down that hex shaft.
I dont get it, why do teams send parts out to be made. My team makes all of our parts (except what we get in the kit and we buy new wheels). It feels great to learn how to fabricate the parts. My teams ain’t that big ether, we have maybe 20 to 25 students from 4 schools and like 8 mentors. Sure we work till the last day till 10pm and pull atleast 2 long Saturdays. But we always have a competitive bot.
Some teams do not have facilities to machine their parts and they either have sponsers to machine it for them or pay for them to be machined.
Billfred, perhaps these parts might be for a variation of the West Coast Drive 
(Just wait until we post pictures of our finished robot).
As for DarkFlame145’s comment. These parts we made by students at two different shops.
More details to follow…
I don’t think there is any question about that… Cantilevered wheels, 2 speed dog shifting output shaft powering the center wheels… even the way the pictures are taken are reminiscent of others I have seen.
We’re on to you… 
More precisely the setup which is commonly known as the “West Coast Drive” was first seen in 2002, used by Team 60.
This was the four wheeled incarnation of the West Coast Drive.
The 6 wheel version debuted in official competition in the 2004 season, in the twins of Team 60 & 254, as well as Team 22.
Team 60 had a cantilevered 4 wheel drivetrain in 2001 as well.
But 60 didn’t have the smaller wheels till '02
To me, the “west coast drive” has more to do with slotted wheel mounts/tensioners, cantilevered wheels and chassis mounted gearboxes than wheel size. The chosen wheel size will always depend on the game, while the rest of the drivetrain remains the same. As a west coaster and 10 year veteran, I always give the most credit to Glenn of team 60 as being the ‘father’ to a lot of the concepts. While many changes have been made in recent history by various teams, he deserves a whole ton of credit for what many teams use today.
If there is a “West Coast Drive” then what is the alternate “East Coast Drive” that must exist?
As for the pictures, it’s clear that they are tensioners going through tubing for live shafts, with the drive axles made from steel. Very nice machining that is clearly for a very nice robot. :]
hrm… there’s a “west coat community” and a “midwest community,” but the east is fairly divided. Yep.
Ah, that makes mroe sense, I guess since the area i live in (red neck USA) Im not use to people not having access to a shop
Them wheels where great lath work, excuse me from my last comment.
I believe there were somewhere around 10 lathe operations and 1 CNC operation on a Fadal. Roughly 1.5-2 hours per wheel. Of the 10 lathe operations, 6 were to create the recesses on each side (3 per side), 2 were to true up up both sides (1 per side), 1 to take the diameter down to size and the last was to create the groove where the tread goes. The Fadal operation was used to break some of the edges and then cut out the pattern in the middle.
He does deserve most of the credit of the West Coast Drive System. Thank You Glenn!!
Seems a little excessive? I know we make our wheels in 2 ops. First we do all the pattern work and bolt circles (20 min per wheel) and then its a 5 minute CNC lathe op to hog out the back sides. Just reworked it to be under 20 minutes I hope (finding out tomorrow when i load up the new code) but otherwise I have to say that 10 lathe ops is a ton. Our big thing this year is making manufacturing processes more efficient and it has been a huge help since our time in the shop has been cut extensively. I am willing to bet that you could cut that 2 hours per wheel in half at least.
-Guy