I Built Fully Functional Tank Tracks With Independent Links!

In this episode we are back in Gearblocks with fully functional tank tracks! I decided to try building tank tracks since we already built a transmission and sure enough it is entirely possible!

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About Gearblocks:

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#gearblocks #kangaming

[RobinAstray]

As far as i understand Contact Detection is for the destruction physics and sounds. "Off" is the best for tanks as it doesn't change how they drive and makes it so you don't go deaf

Also use springs for tension, pistons after that to help the springs tension if needed, Tracks don't have a perfect circular travel round the end so you need a spring to smooth that movement out without gaining/loosing tension as you drive.

Last note: Your wheels are too small for those links, you need to use smaller links if you want to use the trolley wheels so you can smooth out the ride

the wheels are 3x3x3 as you have them setup, that gives an overall track diameter of 5, your links are over half the overall Diameter at 3 long, that's making a huge tension difference in your track as you drive, it would be more obvious to see with a spring so the distance would become easily measurable. Try making the track segments 2 long and you should see a marked improvement in how it drives. Even before you replace the piston with a spring.

A good rule of thumb is that you want to keep your tracks at most half as big as your wheel so they have room to wrap round without causing huge tension differences due to the change in the length the track wants as the segments move round the wheels.

edit: single drive point tanks are very possible with wheels without making them have crazy grip numbers, your ratios and tension method have just not been iterated enough yet to fix the problems with the tracks flopping about.

[Nevir]

Fun fact: it isn't the teeth of the drive sprocket that retains the tracks. At least on modern tracked vehicles, the tracks retain themselves, as they have the guides built onto them. Since tracks are consumables, automatically replacing the track guides when you replace the tracks makes the most sense.

[coryman]

As I understand it: going forwards, the back wheel pulls the bottom of the track taut, and pushes the top of it so it's looser. Going backwards, the top is taut and the bottom is loose, which is probably why reverse doesn't work so well.
Really excited to see where this project goes! I can't get enough of this game

[brockolee]

Those linear tracks remind me of those little excavators that companies are using for digging in your yard or minor road works and stuff.

[NineK]

I believe the "sounds like death" from the tracks is what the community means by contact detection. having a ton of audio will cause some lag and turning that setting off gets rid of the audio from collisions. If someone can correct me if I'm wrong here but continuous would be impact audio and scraping while impact only is.. impact only, surprise! and then you have off of course. which eliminates the extra processing and thus lag from 30+ rigid bodies making audio for contacting the ground and inside wheels. You should try cranking up update and constraint rate next time you're playing. keeps constructions more rigid/less flex from connections and doesn't impact performance too much.. but benefits complex creations as far as consistency. anyways Im rambling hahaha

[MrLarsgren]

what if center part of track is made of 3x2 blocks. then you can place a small pulley or rod between inner and outer wheel to make a groove for the track to be guided by

[NineK]

for a prototype it works! well done, Can't wait for v2 that can handle a vertical wall. Be careful not to make it too big

[JohnLaws-jf]

you should put a suspension piece with the linear actuator to always keep a certain amount of tension on the tracks. i think it might help with the dozens of collisions a second between the drive wheel and the track

[fajagaming]

First thing's first sprockets can be at the front as well as at the back of a tank, it depends on how the transmission is set up, it doesn't have to be at the frint of the tank. When it comes to tracks, yes the second version would be easier, however 99% of all tanks use the first type of tracks where the tracks themselves have teeth which slide into the spaces in the roadwheels. Sprockets also have teeth, but those are used to to push the tracks as sprockets are the only powered wheels on a tank. Another thing a lot of people don't mention is that roadwheels have to be lower than the sprocket, idler and optional return rollers and they need to have to suspension as tanks are supposed to drive on said roadwheels, if they were to also use sprockets to climb they would wear out quickly. Sprockets also are fixed in place, they aren't supposed to have suspension, so the crew would be thrown all over the tank without suspension and suspension's also needed for the tank to actually be able to drive on uneven terrain, climb onto ledges etc.

[ratphour]

Lol.. looks like a cool little skid steer. I was a M1 tank mechanic in the US Army (1989-1993) .. M1 is a powerful beast, with a AGT 1500HP Turbine engine, god I miss playing with them. Also, it has rubber pads on the tracks.. track guides, drive sprocket, and, the engine is governed, to around 45mph (72kph) .. we messed with the governor and had it flying at around 55-60mph but if you turned, it would throw the track. Fun video Kan, keep playing with it. It's entertaining to watch you engineer your way around and figure it out your way instead of using a cheat sheet. :) Thanks for posting.

[agredongaming]

kAN:"supertension >:3"
vehicle: oh yeah? *does a silly little dance*
kAN "OH THAT WAS A BAD IDEA

[manning]

There are two styles of track guides.

One style as you mentioned, is slotted drive wheels where the track segments have a single "tooth" each that passes through the slots.

The other main style is the inverse, the track has two "teeth" either side and the wheel is just a normal solid wheel that rides inbetween the teeth.

You could easily make this second version, make your middle track links skinnier or your outer links thicker, then delete the two outside wheels.

I'd also try putting in suspension on the track tensioner so you can preload it with the piston and get a more secure fit that can flex as needed.

The different wheels also have specific names.

The front unpowered wheel that adjusts the tension is called the idler, it may or may not normally be in contact with the ground.

The wheels in the middle are called road wheels.

The rear powered wheel is the drive wheel or drive sprocket depending if it's a rubber wheel or a toothed sprocket.

You may find that raising the idler and drive wheel up higher helps a lot.

It allows you to climb taller obstacles (by creating a ramp of track) and the links don't need to turn 180 degrees in one short go.

The idler and drive wheel should also be larger in that setup because they have the sharper angles, to larger diameters help minimise the individual chain link angles.

[Spookyma]

Yay! You made me get gearblocks! It's really fun!

[DarktideVtuber]

btw there is a game called Sprocket that is all about building a custom tank, it's pretty in depth, would def recommend checking it out if your interested

[aggressivertyp]

One thing you may need to adjust is the scale of track to wheel.
Tank tracks have the sprocket / drive wheel that actually moves the tracks, an idler the adjustable wheel in front or the back and roadwheels the ones on the ground. Your track links are the size of the idler and drive wheels but it would be much better if the wheel was about twice as big so the track bends more smoothly around the wheel

[adambauckham]

3:43 the shadow on the floor kinda looks like a tank 😂

[the.other.ian.]

there is a dude on YouTube called AL Magma that made some great tracks

[kelvinelrick]

I would recommend looking at images of real world tracks. For your tracks you could look at excavator tracks and to see how the wheels keep the tracks centered on the wheels.

[mrchom]

So with a guide hammering the tracks back on each rotation, and a distinctive “tink tink tink” sound….you built a T-34! 😂

[davidannen]

I used motorcycle wheels, 6 wide gears, and the 3x1 rack to make a very well functioning track, with 3x5 rubber treads.