Treadin' all over the place

Technical Technical Discussion
1

Got a question for any of you who are good at sourcing parts, which I’m currently working on for our bot.

Rubber footed, metal-linked tank treads, about 72 inches in length, and two of them! Any help you can offer us would be super helpful.

Also, your thoughts on the idea of using treads are welcome, as always.

2

First off, I’m really excited that you’re using treads. Not many teams do.

I spent a while looking for premade tank track for you and didn’t find anything. FIRST operates in an odd size range.

I did however find some very interesting DIY tank track ideas here:
http://rctankcombat.com/articles/track-systems/

3

Today, I learned that RC tank battles are not only a thing, they are serious business.

Really, I’d love to see someone do this. Based on that site, it looks like roller chain would be a good bet, assuming the rules allow it (I can’t remember any chain- or sprocket- specific rules, but perhaps maybe something about drive surfaces?).

4

Here are a couple of sites that sell plastic / rubber tracks:

http://www.lynxmotion.com/c-94-tracks.aspx

http://www.basicmicro.com/Robo-Tank-Tracks_p_177.html

http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/0-PL415.html

Not quite what you asked for, but maybe they’ll work for your application.

5

I don’t know your application, but we are using some belts from a treadmill for our conveyor system.

6

Watch out for this:

[R06]
Traction devices may not have surface features such as metal, sandpaper, hard plastic studs, cleats, or other attachments. Traction devices include all parts of the Robot that are designed to transmit any propulsive and/or braking forces between the Robot and the Court.