Ives seen almost every other team use flex wheels as center traction wheels but how? its not as simple as just replacing the center omni wheel with a 3 inch flex wheel as the omni wheels are 3.25. i know the robots sink into the field but by a quarter of a inch seems too much. how do teams do this?
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most teams are cutting the spokes off the flex wheel it’s self and wrapping that outer layer around a high strength gear. I believe you also have to shave a little bit off of the inner layer as well, but I’m not exactly sure how much. Actually I think @Xenon27 did this for TiP last year, he might be able to help.
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exactly what I was thinking of but couldn’t, well, think of it. this should help op a lot
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I have heard that the new traction wheels are quite good, comparable to custom flex wheel tractions. So if you don’t want to spend time carving up an old 3.25" traction wheel and a flex wheel, using the new tractions seems just as good.
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While the new traction wheels are much better than the old ones, they are still not as good as a flex wheel. I am currently using the new traction wheels on my robot, and they work fairly well. Flex wheels are still better. Even better than the new traction wheels, are old omni wheels with the rollers locked out. One downside of using the old omni wheels is that you can’t screw them into gears. I guess the old omni wheels just have super grippy rollers, compared to the new wheels. Back to the new traction wheels, in my first tournament, they worked great for roller defense. Most robots couldn’t push me sideways at all. However, if someone has a 6m drive at 200rpm or lower, I was able to get pushed, but very slowly. (also imo I really like the look of the new omni and traction wheels, other than the center hub)
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Locked omnis definitely don’t work as well as the new tractions. They have a lot less surface area and in my testing, the new tractions are way better than locked omnis. My worlds robot last year had locked omnis and is heavier than my new robot with tractions, and the worlds robot was significantly easier to push, despite being heavier.
This one is kinda subjective but to my team and I, the grippiness of the new traction wheels on the field tiles seems stickier than a flex wheel.
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Maybe I got a weird batch of new traction wheels, or we have some special old omni wheels.
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I stretched out a 4in flex wheel with a custom polycarbonate insert to 4.25in because I have 4.125in omnis. It’s nice cause you don’t have to cut the flex wheel. On the other hand I don’t know if this is possible for a 3in
It’s probably possible, but would be harder to do as you would have to increase the diameter by around 1/4 inch instead of 1/8.
Ok thanks. imma cancel my order and order the new ones. also what team are you on or were on for worlds and what division?
355V in the technology division.
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how did you all do?
20 char
did the flex wheels at worlds have lots of dust on them and if so what did you do to clean them
Ranked 19th and won the build award for the technology division.
We just used alcohol wipes
Much better than us. we were in Engineering and got 60th or something.
I heard those over time damage the rubber and start making it harden up and crack. Did you have any problems with that?
Personally, we haven’t had any problems with the rollers or flex wheels changing their properties while using alcohol wipes.
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