I'm going to chime in here because I've watched this blow up without any explanation on
why we are building wheels other than the intent to teach students the process of manufacturing.
This year we bought some wheels. (I won't say what wheels, they were plastic.) We used them during build season and they failed.
We are building our first WCD this offseason and are trying to keep it as cheap as possible. We found that aluminum wheels are very expensive, so we found that it would be cheaper to just buy aluminum blocks and make them ourselves (about a 50% savings).
Thank you to everyone who gave advice about making wheels. After a very successful year we are trying to venture out and try some new things. We've made the same drivetrain for over 10 years. It has worked well for us, but we see the advantages of WCD. Expect to see more posts from Clint asking questions about certain things, we need the help.
P.S. Part of our inspiration for doing this project was the released materials this offseason. We specifically looked at the CAD of 254 and 1678 on how to make a WCD.
