Woah! How do they get in
Woah! How do they get in there? I guess from window or sunroof. I wanna know how they put this on ownership.
door
It looks like the top half of the door could open…maybe
BTW. Your tracks are looking great.
** looking awesome when**
looking awesome when assembled.
btw those screw heads wouldnt be a problem on indoor surface ? wont they touch to the ground ?
Controller
Tank looks great! Really smooth the treads. Inspiring me to finish my beasty :D.
What H-bridge setup have you got there? I am currently looking at Pololu’s H-Bridge drivers, but also planning on building my own H-Bridge setup. Dont know what to do. . .
Good question! When you
Good question! When you screw them tight, the timing belt is actually become a bit curve so that screw is inside of timing belt. But eventually I think it still touch the ground after while. The good thing is they are easy to replace or fix if it happens,
This is the one I use.
I am not expert in electronic so I can't build H bridge myself, instead of that I bought a speed controller from robotmarketplace.com. It pretty expensive but it save me hell lots of time to build one.
Actually, I think 25A controller is enough which is half price. This one is 50A.
Motors ?
May I ask what motors do you use ?
Very cool! I look forward to
Very cool! I look forward to seeing it driving around. I love how nice and smooth you have the action of the tracks and your speed control.
Have you considered any mechanism for belt tensioning?
FrenchGuy found the long tracks were hard to turn on, and took a suggestion to have some road wheels that reduced the amount of track in contact with the floor. Keep that in mind if you have trouble turning.
LOL!!! Exactly the problem
LOL!!! Exactly the problem I had and I already fix it to add some wheel to lift it up a bit to reduce the touched surface from the ground and it should works fine! I will update the image soon! Thanks for input~
I don’t understand what you
I don’t understand what you meant by, “straight strip going vertical makes it hard to turn.” Can you explain why you think the timing belt was a poor choice?
Sorry for my poor
Sorry for my poor English.
Each flat piece on track shape looks like this: ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It’s better to be like this: ===============
When you make turns it’s pulling belt like: <–|||||||||||||||||||||||||–> and that increase the diffeculty to turn.
Arrrr…I really hope I know how to describe this.
IG, if you get what I mean could you describe it for me with proper English please 
The shape like Mot made in ealier post should be good.
I think you described it
I think you described it pretty well. You are saying the ribbed lines on the belt should run perpendicular to the track, not parallel. This will provide less friction against turning. Incidently, it should also provide MORE traction when moving forward.
So if you got a wide timing belt and cut it into crosswise sections, you could use it.
Yes, all about friction
That will be the best if I could find the timing belt that wide. The belt that wide is usually very thick like snow mobile belt. Not sure if they have thin and wide belt? Timing belts are expensive by the way.
Depending on the width of
Depending on the width of your track, you might find something. A timing belt from a car might work. Consider that you could use a junked one that has been removed from a car. You are going to cut it up anyway, so you can just avoid using the bits that are worn or torn up. You may find a garage that will give some old ones to you since they would through them away anyhow.
Some motorcycles use a belt drive that might meet your needs too.
Awsome robot, man! I love
Awsome robot, man! I love tracked bots and you made the one with my favourite size 
Good point on motorcycle drive belts.
I think I have seen ribbed belts for the belt drive on Harleys. A new one would not be cheap, but, as you pointed out, used belts might be purchased from a dealership for next to nothing or just for free.
4WD
If you plan on driving all 4 wheels on a tracked vehicle, you may need to use encoders to make sure that the pair of wheels on each side jive all the time since they are connected by a belt. Otherwise, you may run into issues with the tires getting tore up when they get out of sync with one another. You may have to resign yourself to manually making sure the tires stay lined up every once in a while, preferably by using sets of timing marks on the chain and wheels.
Of course, some flat hard
Of course, some flat hard rubber might work pretty well too. It may be easier to find and offers less resistance during turning than a timing belt (even turned the “right” way).
Real tanks have rubber pads they use when they are driven on roads. Otherwise their metal tracks will break up the roads. I wonder how some low profile u-channel aluminium with a rubber pad inserted on each would work. The u-channel would provide some structual rigidity, and the pad would make the robot indoor friendly for wooden/tile floors.
Anyway, best of luck to you hardmouse. I’m looking forward to seeing this thing move!
I might switch it back to 2
I might switch it back to 2 wheel drive. Not decided yet. In my design the length for chains in between motors and wheels are equal and so as sprockets. After few test it runs with no problem.(I was afraid the same thing you mentioned too.)
However in your opnion, will you go 4WD or 2WD? Why I change to 4WD because I want them to be balanced when moving backward and forward so it won’t lean to any particular side when sudden stop or start. But when I test it in 2WD, I don’t feel much difference because it’s not running that fast enough to see the difference.
The other point is, I thought 4WD should be a bit more powerful but it’s not. They feel the same when it moves. Correct me if I am wrong, say the total power is 1 so if I go 4WD which divide 1hp to 4 driving wheel and it become 0.25hp per each wheel. If I go 2WD, it will be 0.5hp in each driving wheel. No matter what they all equal to 1hp all toghter. I am not sure whch one is better, they seems all the same to me. (4WD might a bit heavier because of extra sprocket and chains).