Wheel number limit

[Greg Frazier]

Is there any rule that says a car cannot have more than four wheels? As in, if a fifth wheel is used as a drive wheel.

Thanks

Greg
Velocihacktor

[Sharon Mehl]

I didn't see any rules stating that ... heck why 5 ... go for broke ... put on 10!  

--
Thanks so much!

Sharon

[Hal Gottfried]

Hell let's do TANK TREADS!

[Tim Miller]

or no wheels like a slug slimming along

[Sharon Mehl]

THAT sounds intriguing ... got a vehicle stuck in traffic holding everyone up? ... roll right on over the whole lot!  More power!  Woot!

[Noah]

Last year, someone entered something that amounted to an electric
wheelchair chassis without a controller, with a power wheels body
barely attached to it. If I recall correctly, it was of the six-wheel
middle drive variety. Without the controller, the person driving it
had to manually modulate the two drive wheels (and it acted like a
tank) - and the builder opted to eschew the relays and just hook up a
pair of paddle switches directly to its (IIRC) 24 volt power supply
and massive gearbox-reduced motors. That part didn't work out so well.
I don't think it even made it to the other end of the straight-line
drag race.

My wife has two Jazzy power chairs. I should bring one out to Maker
Faire KC just to see how a totally bone stock one (with the original
and easy-to-control joystick and electronics) handles the track. The
firmware on the controller limits them to 4.5 MPH, so I know it
wouldn't stand a chance of winning any speed contests. I am
ambidextrous though, so maybe I should bring a nerf gatling gun and
wear a powerwheels skirt.

Didn't we say there might be the possibility for grudge matches or
other interesting uses of the PPPRS track outside of race time?

[Phillip Fleming]

<DeNiro voice>

Are you talking to me?

</DeNiro voice>

I highly recommend an actual speed controller to reduce arcing and driver whiplash.

Phil 

--
Phillip Fleming
phillip...@gmail.com

[Sharon Mehl]

Noah there are "extra" power wheels bodies at Hammerspace you could use and add to it so it could "compete" since you have to have a power wheels body "attached" ... come on out!  ...we could see if you can still enter a vehicle ... not sure if Jim has closed entries or not.

Sharon

[Noah]

Well, technically I am slated to help out with a bunch of the amateur
radio events at MF:KC this year, so I won't really have time to
compete in the whole gamut of PPPRS this year. Also, there's the fact
that while we did buy one of these power chairs used for exactly $500
cash, they're worth significantly more than that. The motor controller
and joystick alone can't be purchased used for $500. We just got lucky
and snagged one up from a lady who did not know what they're worth
when she listed it.

We'll see if I can bring one of them out, though. I probably won't
wear a powerwheels shell.

Speaking of which... Luis... Did KC0BS and W0BBQ list me on their
MF:KC application? I don't even know if I'm officially registered.

[kyle]

I wanted a tank style drive really bad.....it didn't work out. But I
ran into a lot of crap trying. Also I was just using two wheels on the
back and a caster up front. Tank treads are expensive and a setup that
would allow for a gradual turn instead of the drive, stop, turn, stop,
drive also looked way to expensive. You would need to get the cone
things or hydrauilic motors like in ZTR mowers. Also very expensive. I
would love to see someone pull it off somehow.

I ended up just replacing the caster on the front of mine with a
couple of wheels that steer. Now it looks like a go kart which is
kinda lame but I ran out of time.

On Jun 4, 11:26 pm, Hal Gottfried <h...@cowtowncomputercongress.org>
wrote:

> Hell let's do TANK TREADS!
>

> On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 11:25 PM, Sharon Mehl <sharonkaym...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
> > I didn't see any rules stating that ... heck why 5 ... go for broke ...
> > put on 10!
>

> > On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 11:20 PM, Greg Frazier <gregory.fraz...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >> Is there any rule that says a car cannot have more than four wheels? As
> >> in, if a fifth wheel is used as a drive wheel.
>
> >> Thanks
>
> >> Greg
> >> Velocihacktor
>
> > --
> > Thanks so much!
>

> > Sharon- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Jim Burke]

The officials of PPPRS state that there's no limit on the maximum number of wheels:

I will seriously consider rewarding a few points to anybody who builds this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Tyrrell_P34_2008_Silverstone_Classic.jpg

[Noah]

The way my wife's jazzy works is pretty slick (link to show you something similar to hers)

It's all a bunch of magic with the controller taking data from the joystick and (I think) rotation sensors on the motors. The controller also handles dynamic regenerative braking (at the KC zoo, going down a very long hill, she actually picked up an additional bar of power on the gauge, but promptly lost it going back up said hill later) and controls physical parking brakes that lock the wheels when it's not in motion or power is removed.

While it's not specifically a "tank drive" situation, the controller is rigged to work as a "center drive" so it would work for tank treads if you had motors beefy enough for it, and didn't overload the current rating on the controller.

Again, this style of motor controller is cost prohibitive, and requires the use of an additionally expensive joystick. Scouring eBay, it looks like you might be able to scrape together those parts for $250. This is a far cry from what most of us are used to spending at places like TNC Scooters.

On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 10:03 AM, kyle <kdel...@cox.net> wrote: