does anyone know how much weight low strength chain can support when using the full 48". for example the high strength chain is advertised at being able to lift 50lbs with the 54" of chain.
I’m not sure but, why would you ever want to use the low strength stuff?
i know its terrible compared to the high strength stuff but I have very little high strength chain and tons of the low strength chain:(
On V1 of our last two robots, we’ve used small chain in some way or another. Last year, two 26" tracks of small chain snapped repeatedly under the weight of a small metal forklift and 2 Round-Up tubes.
The low strength chain is great in small applications, like places where HS chain won’t fit, or where it doesn’t need to deal with high loads (like a miscellaneous mechanism that is triggered by arm motion). I’m pretty sure 254a’s under the ladder bot used low strength chain for their drive by doubling up 2 sprockets per side.
Make sure you know if you’re dealing with shock load or static load (probably the real terms for that). If you’re hanging 10lbs off a length of chain in a test, it might have a different result than yanking on the same chain for a split second with 20lbs of force.
The low-strength chain is useful for things where space is limited and there isn’t a huge amount of force being applied. One of my favorite applications of it is to chain my robot’s drive train to an encoder, as there is no tension on the chain.
If “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link”, then it doesn’t matter how long the chain is.
Well if a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, then longer chain will be weaker because there is a larger chance that there will be a weaker link.
Longer chain will stretch more, so it will be more resistant to shock loads.
Keep in mind that the larger the sprocket you are directly powering, the less tension is on the chain. 254A did use low-strength chain on their 4" tall robot, and it was doubled up, and it did start with a fairly large sprocket.