[sanddrag]

Say you have a wheel with no hub, it is just a plain bore. Then say you make a couple "drive flanges" that are made out of 3/16 plate They are circular in shape, have a keyway bore, and 6 evenly spaced holes in a circular pattern. If you put one of these on each side of the wheel and placed bolts through the six holes (matching holes would be in the wheel), the flanges would be locked with the axle by key and the wheel would be locked with the flanges by clamping force when the bolts and nuts are tightened . Now, my question is, is the clamping (friction?) force alone of these "drive flanges" enough to drive the wheel without it slipping. Is this method ever used for driving things?

Is there any formula to determine how much force it would take to make the wheel slip from the flanges given the bolts are torqued to a given amount?

Thanks.