It’s that time of year again - pre-purchase of anticipated parts! We usually get risk-averse in this phase, and a question came up when discussion drive trains. We really really like the idea of the vex pro Colson wheels since they’re now the cheapest wheel setup available all things considered.
However, We’re interested in trying ThunderHex. I like the beefy bearing support, and I also like the thru-hole since that would make life exceptionally easy for a few things in a WCD setup (#10 thru-bolt that acts as encoder attachment).
I have had experiences with plastic hubs and a steel square shaft before - the plastic eventually fatigues and rounds out. Is this an issue with the ThunderHex + Colson combo? It wouldn’t necessary mean I don’t use either, but I’d like to know if using them in combination for a potentially torque-heavy game is a bad idea over the course of a competition.
Edit - also useful to know for things like conveyors & wheeled shooters, which may see spikes in torque due to jamming/etc.
Haven’t used ThunderHex directly, but one point in favor of this combination is that the VexPro Colson hex profile is a very tight fit on even regular VexPro hex shafting. I don’t expect there to be many problems with backlash or wear since there will still be a large contact patch between the wheel hub and the hex profile.
If you’re really concerned, just buy the ThunderHex bearings and turn the ends of the shaft down to slightly-round.
3476 switched over to thunderhex. I highly recommend it. We still have our inventory of 1/2" hex because its pretty easy to use a lathe to convert to thunderhex.
As for high torque, we have the colson+ thunderhex combo on our 2013 robot now and we will see how well it does when we compete with it in China. I will let you know how it goes but I am confident it will be fine.