Track and chassis kit

totcohand

I dont know about everybody else, but I have had a heck of a time picking out a chassis and tread kit for a robot design. I found this one http://www.trossenrobotics.com/store/p/5882-Tri-Track-Chassis.aspx·and it seems to be pretty good. Has anyone used it yet?

iDave

I'm sure that one is nice. Love to have it but just oh so expensive. I have used(as other members) the mattracks from from the radio shack truck. See below. May not be as robust or large enough for your needs but maybe you could get two pair. Whit has said u can get them direcly from radio shack for $25 a pair. Get four for about $50 as opposed to $250. Just a thought. Good luck.

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"THE ONLY TRUE WISDOM IS IN KNOWING YOU KNOW NOTHING." - SOCRATES

Whit

iDave is correct. You can pick up Radio Shack's RC Hummer with Mattracks now for only 49.99.

See here - http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3304504
The tracks are on the Hummer's suspension system. If you take off the body, you end up with a great base that you could hack from.

Or you could use the mattrack attached to a BOEBot as shown in iDave's pics.

See this cool video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5K0gVGb-LI&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Boe+%2B+mattracks&emb=1&aq=f&feature=player_embedded

At $49.99 you get two pair for $25.00 each or one platform with 4 mattracks plus suspension. It also comes with wheels.

I don't think you would be dissappointed with the Trossen set. They are really nice (from what I have read). You just may want to start at a lower price.

Have fun!

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Whit+


"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

Post Edited (Whit) : 12/28/2008 9:35:45 PM GMT

Zoot

One thing to keep in mind about the Lynxmotion Tri-Track (Trossen is just a reseller, actual manufacturer is here: http://lynxmotion.com) -- the motors have hi-count sealed quadrature encoders already *built-in* -- this is quite nice for the price once you take that into account, plus the fact that this particular platform is nearly twice as big in both directions as a Boe-bot type chassis.

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST

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totcohand

Zoot said...
One thing to keep in mind about the Lynxmotion Tri-Track (Trossen is just a reseller, actual manufacturer is here: http://lynxmotion.com) -- the motors have hi-count sealed quadrature encoders already *built-in* -- this is quite nice for the price once you take that into account, plus the fact that this particular platform is nearly twice as big in both directions as a Boe-bot type chassis.

The size of this platform and the encoders are what appealed to me the most. I loved working with the boe bot platform, it is just so small. i thought RS discontinued that vehicle< so I will look at getting that as well, as I seem to like to mess up multiple projects at the same time! lol. thanks for all the input!

propMaker

I like the lynxmotion tri-track. It has good power, and traction.

It does good on carpet, concrete, gravel, grass slows it down a bit. And it sank to the bottom of a leaf pile but it kept moving pretty good.
I did 360's in a pile of dirty laundry for several minutes and never got tangled or threw a track.

My only real concern with it is the ground clearance sometimes.