SDS Mk4i Modules & the CHARGE STATION

FIRST General Forum
1

Our team has just received our Mk4i SDS modules and we’re very pleased with them. Will there be any problems getting a robot using them up the Charge Station ramp?
If so, what would you recommend as a fix?

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2

Would grip be an issue with stock treads maybe?

3

I didn’t even think of that, but I’ll look into materials that can grip polycarb.

I was more concerned about clearance between the wheel and the ramp, taking into account the bottom plate on the inverted swerve modules.

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4

It was shown that the kit chassis was able to get onto the CHARGE STATION with little difficulty. Until someone has an actual CHARGE STATION they can test with the MK4i everything is a bit speculative. If I recall correctly, some teams in 2012 with those bridges seemed to prefer wedgetop tread over the standard roughtop variant.

5

This question will hopefully be answered by RI3D Redux.

I look forward to their observations

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6

Need to wait and find out, no one has the genuine article.

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7

We tested our swerve drivetrain, and it could make it up quite a dramatic angle, far above the 11 degrees. It made it up just fine, not sure about clearance with bumpers, but that is to be tested.

8

we tested poly carb against pretty used neoprene tread and it mildly slips. I think with brand new tread itll do well but rotating tread every 2 matches is going to get annoying

9

And expensive.

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10

I suspect ground colsons will grab polycarb pretty well. But that’s a gut feel, probably too much work to modify.

Your tread is “pretty used” after a few matches? There are different types of neoprene (such as the backer and lamination process), just linking this in, it gets more in depth further down the thread.

11

What kind of tread was your team using?

12

Black Neoprene, fairly used at that.

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13

the only thing i can think of for helping increase clearance would be to create an ultimate clearance swerve, where you mount the module plate on the bottom of the chassis instead of the top. We were about to order Mk4i, but decided to get Mk4’s due to increased clearance…now for the 8 week wait and to see how quickly we can change our Mk2’s our for 4’s

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14

Linking this in, There are some cad sketches for a few modules. Of course this is just the geometry.