Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamHeard
We're a team that used to make custom wheels every season, and we likely won't ever again.
Just too many solid COTS options, unless you have every part of your robot perfect, it's really a wasted resource to make custom wheels.
Sure are cool though.
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We started with this idea, but found that our COTS wheels (Colsons) were too small, and no COTS wheels would fit our design after the face. So, we went custom.
By the time we manually machined, knurled, broached, and pressed hubs on the Colsons, we just about could have made our own wheels to the perfect size. And, we can do it in-house, and while we can still get aluminum for $1.69/lb, we might as well.
If there was a COTS wheel that was the same size, weight, and bore that we'd make anyway, I wouldn't bother making them. But I've yet to see something good with a 7/16" hex bore.
I agree though, that you should definitely attempt to buy over building, if the off the shelf options fit your needs. You're not just buying wheels, you're buying time.