I remember seeing multiple posts about teams using some sort of rubber (urethane?) tubing from McMaster as traction material for wheels and rollers that came in outer-diameters as high as 4". The idea being that that you could stretch the material over the roller or wheel.
I have found latex tubing on McMaster but the OD only goes up to 1.5". Does anyone have a source for something larger? Or maybe has a link to one of the old threads talking about it? For reference I believe the old CD threads were about using tubing to make custom intake wheels for Recycle Rush.
Silicone is a pretty solid option if you’re looking for grip and it’s available from mcmaster up to 2.75" OD. There are some tricks using inflation or an evaporating liquid lubricant, like ethanol to slide it on. We’re using Silicone over PVC with custom 500 hex plugs.
Do you happen to know how grippy and how wear resistant gum rubber is compared to polyurethane? Everything I have found indicates that poly is a bit more wear resistant but I’m not familiar enough with either to guess how well it would hold up during competition.
We have used drawer liner from Home Depot for years as a roller material and it works great. Link
In 2009 we experimented with a number of different styles until we found one that worked the best and used it that year, 2012, 2014 and will again this year.
Not exactly rubber tubing, but it might be useful.
If you are looking for this to cover intake rollers I am not sure it is needed.
We prototyped with plain ole PVC pipe and those grippy balls got sucked right in.