High friction material

Community General Discussions
1

I've not logged in for a while, but I'm still working on my robot, as and when I get the chance. I'll update my robot page, when I have the next part finished. The next part is the reason for this post, however. I appear to have hit a stumbling block and as usual, I'm turning to the good folk here at LMR, for advice.

I've been working on a clutch mechanism, the idea behind it being, when my robot is moving, either in forward, or reverse, the 2 gearboxes lock together, with the afore mentioned clutch, which will then disengage, when turning. I've made the mechanism and it all works well, servo operated and functions in largely the same way, as a clutch on a manual transmission car.

The only problem I've encountered, is a material to make the actual clutch plates from. There are a few properties, I need from this material, so here I am asking if anyone can recommend anything. The properties I require are listed below.

1. High friction

2. Ability to be machined to size and shape

3. Easily available

4. Not costly

So, there we go. Any offers, anyone?

Thanks for reading,

Paul

2

A rubber feet?

A rubber feet?

3

Hi Silux,I had thought about

Hi Silux,

I had thought about that. Do you think it’ll work? I wasn’t sure.

Maybe I’ll end up trying various materials and picking the one that works best. 

I could buy the rubber feet and make backing plates to fit the feet.

Thanks for the suggestion.

4

Rubber is the go to material

Rubber is the go to material everytime you need traction. Until nanotech pops out a better material…

5

You’re right Silux,Rubber it

You’re right Silux,

Rubber it is.

6

Magnets

Back in the day, I used some geared motors from a large RC toy. Basically, just two motor/gear drives in one case (shaft coming out of each side for wheels). For its clutch, it simply used two magnets facing each other spaced just slightly apart. When both motors went forward, the magnets kept the two sides aligned. Durning turning, the motors were able to overcome the magnets and spin independantly.

It worked a treat.