tank tracks with easy to make rubber pads

thingiverse

This is a remix of the file "track_V1" for Staind's RC Tank. I wanted to add rubber pads to the tracks, but I didn't want to have to precisely cut a load of rubber pads and then glue them on the tracks nice and straight. As laziness is the mother of all invention, I just added a spherical groove of appropriate size on the bottom of the track for gluing in pieces of rubber string. So for each track only one simple cut is necessary. The rubber I used is NBR with a Shore hardness of 70°. It should be quite resistant to wear and tear and it gives nice traction on smooth surfaces. There is a version for a diameter of the rubber of 3 mm and for 4 mm. I personally think 4 mm looks better and it gives more of an edge for the track to grab onto things. Assembly steps: - print track - cut 46,5 mm of rubber - glue rubber into groove with super glue Update 2017-08-02 To speed up the process of cutting the rubber pieces (i.e. to be even more lazy) I designed a simple cutting aid. All you have to do, is to place the end of the rubber band inside the groove and to move the blade of your knife pressed directly against the outer edge of the cutting aid. This will give you a piece of rubber of the appropriate length. No measuring or thinking needed. :-) I will add the version for 3 mm rubber shortly.