Re: 6 Wheel Drive, Wheel/Drive Assembly
 

So I'm thinking about adding maybe 4 pieces of 8020 between the inside/outside plates just to hold them together better, any other suggestions? I'm not sure if I said that the omni's won't be powered, I think someone might have been thinking that earlier, but, any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

Re: 6 Wheel Drive, Wheel/Drive Assembly
 

Any particular reason you choose to go with the omnis as compared to 6 traction wheels?

And I think that you'll really want to consider driving those omnis. You're wasting a lot friction that you can be using to help you push other robots as compared to just the friction that's present on that one center wheel.

Other than that, it looks good. You might wanna consider cutting out parts out of the chassis for weight and a nice look.

Re: 6 Wheel Drive, Wheel/Drive Assembly
 

Well, I think it would be just a little more difficult, this being my first design to go with a full 6 wheel powered design. I think this would be very fast, and would turn on a dime, which is what I was hoping for. But, many better designs will probably be thought up this summer.

So, he's what I'm doing now:
Adding 4 8020 supports between the inside/outside plates
Adding 2 more 8020 support beams across the front and back,
and
cutting out some sections reduce some weight.

Pictures will be posted shortly. Thanks for the advice!

Re: 6 Wheel Drive, Wheel/Drive Assembly
 

Adding power to the outer wheels is no more difficult that attaching sprockets to the wheels and chaining them. Any unpowered wheels are a total waste for power. For simple chain tensioning just slot the mounting hole so you can slide the wheel out to take up slack in the chain

Re: 6 Wheel Drive, Wheel/Drive Assembly
 

You don't have to add the chain in CAD. All you have to do is add sprockets that line up and keep a consistent chaining scheme.

Re: 6 Wheel Drive, Wheel/Drive Assembly
 

I will probably add the sprockets in there later, I just want to get the chassis and sub assembly perfected right now.

What I did was, I added more 8020 to the front and back,
and cut our teams symbol (yin-yang) for this year, into the bot to hopefully lighten it up a bit.

Here are some pictures, and as always, suggestions are hoped for.

Re: 6 Wheel Drive, Wheel/Drive Assembly
 

Looking good! You're learning fast, keep it up!

My main suggestion is a method of thinking about the rigidity of your chassis. Think of a box made of cardboard being pushed from a corner: The box will flex, as squares are not very rigid. Now think of a triangle being pushed from a corner: Little to no flex.

As much as you can, remove open rectangles from your design, and try to keep a solid shape. If it helps, try some balsa wood or cardboard experiments to get yourself familiar with the different polygons and their rigidity.

You're on the right track though!

Re: 6 Wheel Drive, Wheel/Drive Assembly
 

Mounting a plate or sheet across the 8020 beams will do a great job of stiffening up your chassis. A thicker (1/2") piece of plywood spanning all of the beams will tie everything together very well and give a nice clean surface to mount electronics and mechanisms.