I’m looking at buying some rubber bands and I’m curious if anyone found a good substitute for the silicone #64 rubber bands. The VEX price is… interesting…
The other rubber bands can be found by the truckload for next to nothing.
Searching Google through three pages and amazon searches aren’t getting me that far… Thanks.
I just use any #32 or #64 bands I find at office stores. They work ok, if you’re looking for high quality bands I’ve heard good things about the alliance brand bands.
We use the 1 lb bag from Staples. They work well, you might need to use 4 vs 3 VEX ones, but at a penny each, not a big deal. You can also find them in colors, if you want to jazz things up.
Robosource stocks two different “strengths” of rubber bands in their catalog: https://www.robosource.net/21-elastics-latex-tubing
My team used to use Alliance rubber bands, but at nationals last season we learned about Platinum Crepe rubber bands and switched instantly. I would highly recommend them if you’re willing to pay a little bit extra for more quality.
Helps to QUOTE:
Some non-VEX items are permitted. Robots are allowed to use the following additional “non-VEX IQ” components:
a. Appropriate non-functional decorations, provided that these do not affect the Robot performance in any significant way or affect the outcome of the Match. These decorations must be in the spirit of the event. Inspectors will have the final say in what is considered “non-functional”.
i. Any decorations must be backed by legal materials that provide the same functionality (i.e. if your Robot has a giant decal that prevents Game Objects from falling out of the Robot, the decal must be backed by VEX IQ material that also prevents the Game Objects from falling out).
ii. The use of non-toxic paint is considered a legal non-functional decoration. However, any paint being used as an adhesive or to impact how tightly parts fit together would be classified as functional.
b. Rubber bands that are identical in length and thickness to those included in the VEX IQ product line (#32 & #64).
c. ⅛” metal shafts from the VEX EDR product line.
So they don’t have to be identical. I was trying to find rubber bands of a particular type. Thanks. I’m about to order the ones you recommended.
Can you describe your experience of the qualitative difference? Or quantify it?
Not just the catalogue blurbs.
The 2 noticable differences we found between Alliance (we used the sterling rubber bands) and Platinum Crepe rubber bands were that Platinum Crepe has more elasticity than Alliance while still being tighter, and they are less likely to snap in our experience. Both are sold in 1lb containers, but I’m pretty sure Platinum Crepe bands give you less than Alliance, though we haven’t counted the amount in Platinum Crepe bags. That isn’t much of a problem though because they last longer.
Sigh, bespoke rubber bands, now I’ve seen everything.
It looks like these rubber bands got removed from Amazon… Or at least sold out?
What do you mean? Very few teams I see use rubber bands from VEX’s site, everyone uses rubber bands from all over the place. The most common thing I see is rubber bands from office depot/staples type stores, and alliance/quality rubber bands in general are, in practice, both more reliable and useful.
Side note, even these are not “bespoke,” they’re just bought from a different source. Bespoke rubber bands would mean people are making their own rubber bands, which would then be something to say “now I’ve seen everything” to.