When I started this project almost a year ago I had a very hard time finding a company that would sell me roller chain parts assembled. I was actually surprised because I thought it would be quite simple. All I wanted was for someone to sell me the chain before they assembled it. After talking with over 10 companies I had only found two that were willing to sell me the parts. However, the prices were extremely high. In fact they were 3-5 times more expensive than assembled chain. The problem was none of these companies manufacture the chain in the USA. All of them were importing the chain from China. The two companies that were willing to sell me the parts were actually charging me for breaking the chain.

I believed in this idea and so I invested almost $1000 in ordering parts from China. The shipping was expensive, and the minimum order of parts was in the thousands. But the companies were actually quite friendly and willing to help within reason. But most importantly I got the parts I needed to test my design and move forward.

Now that I have moved from the crazy guy with an idea stage, to the legitimate product these companies are more interested in working together. I needed to get sprockets for my demo robot, and so I started calling up some of the roller chain companies in the USA again. My Chinese partner would gladly send me sprockets, but I would have to order hundreds and pay the shipping. My track system works with all standard sprockets and you could get these anywhere you like. But I wanted to offer them with my track as a way to make it more convenient for people wanting to use my tracks. USA Roller Chain and Sprocket was glad to help with this. Now that I am partnered with them I will soon be able to offer hundreds of sprockets, chain, axle shafts, shaft collars and more.

If you have not check out the Tank Chain website please do so.

www.tankchain.com

and if you would like to check out USA Roller Chain and Sprockets here is a link:

http://www.usarollerchain.com/default.asp