Does anyone know a safe/easy way to wrap the rubber that comes off the Small VEX wheels onto the medium wheels?
I know it’s possible, and one of my teammates would like to use a jack, but we’re not convinced if that is the safest way.
Thanks for any answers.
Sunny.
My teacher did it with his bare hands.
On another note, since I’m not that strong and I doubt you are, I’d recommend using the jack.
Why exactly would you want to do this?
Would it be nice to have softer, higher-grip tires available for the 4-inch wheels? What if these tires wore out and had to be replaced periodically in exchange for that higher grip? I’m thinking of slot-car tires, which are pretty soft. Not that IFI follows my advice, mind you, but I’m pretty sure they listen.
I would be NICE. Yes. But I think it’s a nice challenge and for teams to figure out ways to manipulate what they have in order to get what they want.
But now that so many teams have figured out that this is a good way to get traction, maybe IFI should consider offering a higher-grip tire which is 4" in size.
On this note, how to the omni wheels compare with the medium and small wheels on traction? (obviously talking forward and back only)
See the casters on the large omni wheels are made of a similar material as the small wheels.
“Traction” is a pretty vague word; but I would be surprised if a moderately heavy robot rolling on the VRC foam playing surface would get more traction from the smooth surface of the 2.75" tires than it would from the ridges of the 4" tires.
In particular, a heavy robot will certainly press the 4" tires’ ridges into the foam deeply enough that it becomes very hard to turn the robot. In the sense of not sliding easily, that situation is one in which the 4" tires have heaps of traction.
Are you guys sure that traction is the right name for what putting the 2.75" tires onto the 4" wheels offers? I think that together they would make a bot more maneuverable. I’m not so sure about the traction bit; unless perhaps you are talking about going up a ramp that isn’t made of the foam tiles.
Blake
holy crap, wut a bear. manly robotics
i know i have trouble with the medium wheel tires as is along with the large wheels i can’t imagine getting the small tires on the medium wheels with my bare hands. is your teacher by any chance the guy on the enterprise cleaning ads
Mr. Ablett can bend steel trestle bridges with his bare hands. He wrestles polar bears in pairs, picks his teeth with full-grown Douglas fir trees, and water skis on killer whales. Vancouver Island was part of the mainland until Mr. Ablett wanted an ocean view and dug the Strait of Georgia one afternoon. Mr. Ablett understands the tax code.
impossible!
Reminds me of a bet this past FRC season …
The Mechanical guys were trying to figure out how to cut a slit in a 10" long piece of sch 80 PVC so they could slip it over a sch 40 piece to give it more thickness without removing it from the application.
After 1/2 hour of trying to force the cut piece over the other, I ( a software type) bet them I could do it. Our standard bet: one nickle.
I simply whipped out the heat gun, gently heated it to make it pliable and slipped it right over the other tube. When it cooled down it was back to it’s original rigidity and a perfect fit.
I wonder if that would work here?
Hmmm … where did I put that heat gun …
it is usually the easy solution that works the best. as for this application i am not really sure how well a heat gun would work for some reason i think that the amount that you would have to heat it to make it pliable would burn you when you tried to stretch it over the hub. i don’t really know just a thought.
I guess that is applicable for PVC because after it cools down, it’s rigid, but wouldn’t the small wheel rubber eventually become more loose, and if it did, would the rubber return back to its original form?
Dunno, But I gotta wheel I’m willing to sacrafice for the cause …
I think a youtube video is in order.
Chuckle… we do NOT have POLAR bears in Vancouver… those were grizzlies. They were just white from fear!
Those looking for a way to do this using brains rather than brawn might want to ask “How could we make the tire a bit softer and stretchier?”
Maybe Mr. Ablett just has really, really hot hands.
Jason
P.S. If they aren’t Polar bears… does that make them Cartesian bears? 
Okay I am Mr Ablett…
Yes I did it for the first 3 or 4 wheels with my bare hands. And everything Rick Tyler said is true (as corrected by Mr Brett about the Grizzlies) well except the bit about tax law…no one actually understands tax law.
and my hands aren’t warm enough to increase the elasticity of the tires:p
What I did do for the rest of the wheels (assuming most of my students would not be able force it on to the bigger wheel) was I cut down the end of 2 pair of small jorgensen clamps. Then I spread the tire with the clamps at 90 degrees to each other, slipped the wheel in and very carefully slid them out.
Now this takes longer than just putting them on with my hands but anyone with a bit of dexderity could do it.
Oh and if you are thinking about more traction…make the wheel wider
and yes I can do that with my bare hands too…
just put two wheels beside each other...