[Ben Piecuch]

I'm guessing that they angled the gearboxes so that the chain can be run straight from the gearbox to the wheel. The way their gearbox spacers are placed, the chain would rub along them if the gearbox was horizontal.

My question has to do with the width of the gearbox. There's an awful lot of unused real estate there. I understand that the gearbox is mounted on the kit chassis, which requires that spacing. But, the CIM could be reversed 180 deg, and be mounted on an "intermediate" plate between the two outside plates. Then, by turning the entire assembly 180 deg, the encoder is inboard, the motor is inboard, and you keep your spacing and loose all the excess width. Also, this places the chain run on the inside of the wheel, which allows you to move all your wheels out another inch or so, effectively widening your wheelbase by two inches. This makes a "more square" drivetrain, which has been argued to be an improvement for Mechanum systems.

Overall, I like the integration into the kit chassis. I'm just not sure why you didn't use the kit gearboxes as well.

BEN