Custom omni-wheels
 

Does anyone know of a company that produces omni wheels other than Andy Mark? Also, has anyone made their own omni wheels?

Patrick

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

Well what are you planning on using them for? because i know of many people who have made they're own and i know of other good omni wheels, but they wouldn't fit a FRC robot.

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

While I was in high school on team 11, we created custom 8" omni wheels for 2003's game, Stack Attack. Our robot was pretty dreadful that year, but the wheels we had on our drivetrain were awesome. It was a straight 4WD, but the front wheels were 8" dia., 4" wide, using standard conveyor belt tread. The backs were these custom omni wheels that looked absolutely gorgeous. (Trying to find a picture in my archives, but having trouble finding any).

The omni wheels definitely required a significant amount of design and fabrication. AndyMark puts out a great product that requires none of this overhead. If I were to use omnis again, I'd definitely just buy them from AM.

-Brando

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

According to McG, 2003 never happened lol. I'd love to see a pic of these wheels as well.

What was the roller material?

Were they designed before or after Andy Baker started publishing his designs?

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

Yeah 2003 was a regrettable year for MORT, but honestly the utter deflation from 2003 is what fueled such a successful 2004.

The rollers themselves were made from aluminum (as was everything else on the wheel). To create "tread", grooves were cut in each roller so we could put O-rings down the length. It ended up working quite well actually. Occasionally we would need to replace an O-ring or two, but it definitely simplified the design. If I were to build them now- I'd probably machine them from plastic, and create an overmold to put "tread" on each one.

I'm not sure if Andy had started publishing his designs or not. Either way, MORT was pretty secluded from the FIRST world at that time, and we developed them independently. The basis for the wheel design came from some that we had ordered from MSC. They were the little blue ones that you see around here from time to time. They were way too small to get up the hill that year because the material on the ramp was like 1/2" square mesh (the wheels would get stuck on each grate). This is why to continue using omnis, we had to make big ones.

I'll look on my old external hard drive tonight and see if I can dig them up. They are definitely worth a gander.

-Brando

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

Depending on the application, Vex omni wheels may be a good option.

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

Here are some others:

Kornylak
Parallax
VEX makes various sizes, 4" is the biggest of theirs

Kornylak probably sells more omni wheels than all of the other suppliers listed above, since their wheels are mostly used on conveyor belts. There are other omni wheels sold in Japan and southeast Asia, also.

The first omni wheel I saw on a FIRST robot was the HOT Team (67) in 1998. We made some during the competition season on TechnoKats, and they ended up on the Championship-winning robot.

Here is the white paper made in 2003 from a Mark Koors design.

Andy B.

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

But why not Andymark?

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

Am I the only person who thinks it's really cool that Andy Baker is helping someone find his competitor's products?

Sounds like whomever he works for, they probably have great customer service. ;)

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

It appears to me that a careful inspection of the wheels and their designed applications will reveal which company's products are superior.

Another interesting point has been brought up, though - has anybody used VEX omniwheels or other wheels for FRC for drivetrain use? If so, what modifications were done to the wheels? I've seen them used in manipulators but never with a substantial load.

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

The reason that I am asking is because my team is working on an off-season project. We are expecting it to be around 400 lbs with 6 wheels. We are worried that Andy Mark omni's aren't going to hold up under those kinds of forces. Most of the wheels mentioned are quite small and we were hoping to go 8inches or larger with our omni wheels.

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

That white paper is what helped me to make my wheels in 2004.

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

We have several omni wheels from both of these companies laying around, and the build quality and overall durability is far inferior to Andy-marks wheels. The parallax wheels would be great if they were only slightly larger and had less rolling resistance. Other wheels work well however the robot we used them on had traction problems which caused the wheels to spin alot and they wore very quickly.

Re: Custom omni-wheels
 

We have been making them for years now. we use it every year (except 09:() but we made and designed all the parts in our shop! one of the design was recently patent accepted.