Quote:
Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman
I'm sure you know nothing about our program or our sponsor. 
I'm sure they are happy to save us money doing a part they can setup once and make repeatedly and relatively quickly, giving them more time to handle their very busy workload on all that fun stuff that *actually makes them money*.
I'm sure they are also happy that they saved 3193 money as well making the same wheels.
I'm sure we had another local CNC sponsor who is more flexible in making a variety of parts for us.
I'm sure COTS wheels weren't something we wanted to use on the competition robot this year. |
I'm sure you know exactly how to save your sponsors time and money and maybe I'll get to hear that someday....
Regardless, I agree with Adam that making your own wheels can be a resource hog for a lot of teams. Sometimes, it is feasible for a team to machine their own wheels, but even if I had the time/materials, I'd still think twice about doing it unless theres a significant advantage.
Some significant advantages can include the method of tred attachment, the way you attache sprockets for chain/belt, the exact diameter of the wheel and the width of the wheel. I dont think weight savings would be too big a motivation for making custom wheels. It really just depends on your teams resources. There are a lot of good wheels that are cots parts so i wouldn't worry too much about custom ones.