4" Wooden Mecanum Wheel

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by TheOtherGuy

The current issue I'm having is the nuts are just a little too big (or the rollers too small). I would love to hear other ideas for attaching the rollers, unless making them slightly larger is the best solution.

Perhaps you could recess the nuts inside the end of the roller.

[WileyB-J]

maybe try lathing them with a machinable nylon polymer? it would seem a touch easier and more consistent. in my opinion wood will not stand the test of time. (meaning the hub and spokes seem brittle and weak) but the idea seems mint!

[MrForbes]

If you play with the plywood parts some you might change you're mind, they seem pretty strong.

But setting up the saw and jigs to make all the parts the same size seems to be a chore. I'll look into what it would take to make them out of welded steel, too.

I like the idea of redesigning it to use the rubber stoppers that already have a hole in them.
The wheels might have to be a bit smaller than this design's 4" diamter to work well though, as most stoppers seem to be 1" tall, and the current design requires the rollers to be about 1.25" tall

[TheOtherGuy]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Perhaps you could recess the nuts inside the end of the roller.

That thought had crossed my mind, but it didn't seem like much material would be left surrounding the nut. Maybe just recessing it half the width of the nut would work, along with a slightly larger radius for the roller. Time to draw!

Originally Posted by WileyB-J

maybe try lathing them with a machinable nylon polymer? it would seem a touch easier and more consistent. in my opinion wood will not stand the test of time. (meaning the hub and spokes seem brittle and weak) but the idea seems mint!

The hub and spokes seem strong enough, but you might be right about the rollers. After time the center of the rollers might wear down, so maybe getting some of these and press fitting another aluminum tube inside would work?