Page 1 of 1

Subitted for review: Other articulation ideas.

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:35 am
by Michael.mt2k
I was looking at two MTs end to end and had this thought:

What if one connected two complete MT chassis together using say, Lego ball joints to allow articulation, BUT paralleled the drive and steering motors so that both acted together? Everything would have to match up, of course.

The joints would allow for truly universal swivel action, but still transmit drive power between the two joined vehicles.

One would do a 4-gear geardown perhaps for major crawling power, or simply use faster motors with the stock gearing.

One could also wire the joined vehicles' batteries together, or add two more complete MT packs for a quad series/parallel hookup for plenty of juice and power to run it all for a decent amount of time!

My main thing I'm wondering about is how the rear-mounted MT's steering would do, and how well everything would work together mechanically.


Or maybe use a piece that would only swivel, but not articulate like a ball would?

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:17 am
by civicsr2cool
but why? :???:

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:22 am
by Michael.mt2k
For eight-wheel power, and resistance to tipping when climbing.
Why articulate at all?

Isn't this kind of stuff what is done here? :-)

There are those who ask why.

I ask why not?

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:22 pm
by Clint
All I can say is try it and see how it comes out.

I went with 6 wheels. But only articulated the front. All four rear wheels(2 mt's) are locked together with a 6 gear total setup. I picked up the tamiya tank tread yesterday, so soon I'll have that halftrack project completed.

And then I used the left over front and reversed the gearing to use as the rear of a full susp mt. no wasted parts.

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 8:11 pm
by Michael.mt2k
Thanks for your input!

You got me thinking now!

Since my idea is for both vehicles to be slaved from a single PCB anyway, I COULD attach the two chassis rear-to-rear, simply reversing the wiring for one vehicle.

Doing it that way puts the steering wheels on the outside, which may help with maneuverability.

Gotta go dig out some ball joints and figure out attachment options


8-)

(edited for spelling)