Re: TTS Enhancement

[Joe Sommer <anvilus9-at-adelphia.net>]

Steve,

At 04:52 PM 9/23/2004 -0400, "Steve Tyng" <stevet-at-stcharlesmd.com> wrote:
>It's a TTS friction drive wheel, still wrapped in thick rubber but the 
>"enhancement" (lets see how many spam filters block this one ;-) are the 
>flats around the perimeter.  The flats match the track width and 
>spacing.  Think of it as a half a friction drive and half a sprocket 
>drive.  It would take more thought and effort to make but it should 
>provide better performance with less tension than a round drive wheel setup.

I agree that a polygonal drive wheel  ...

"should provide better performance with less
tension than a round drive wheel"  ...

but only if we battle on perfectly clean fields.

The battlefield in Coxsackie was probably the
worst possible scenario for any TTS due to
the puddles and very soggy ground coupled
with the presence of a large amount of detritus
(hay) that could infiltrate the track.  After the
last battle at Coxsackie, I removed a 3/16
inch thick mat of wet hay that had built up
around the outer rim of my drive sprockets.  See
http://www.anvilus.com/Hetzer_sprocket.doc
It was almost enough to make my track skip
over my sprocket teeth.

I believe that wet detritus would build up around
a polygonal drive wheel whereas a round drive
wheel leaves some empty "corners" for detritus
and occasional slip wipes it clean.

Please remember that I am not an expert on
friction drive track.

Just my two cents,
Joe



**********************************************
Joe Sommer
2378 Nantucket Circle, State College, PA 16803
814.234.4773     anvilus9-at-adelphia.net
http://www.anvilus.com