Is there a Mecanum whitepaper available?

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Japper

Our team just bought some Mecanum wheels and I was wondering if there is a whitepaper available. So many questions, so little time...

One of our main questions is mounting options. Is it better to mount these with chains and gear boxes or direct drive?

Any links to pictures showing this would be helpful and appreciated.

Thanks and good luck with your competition this year!

The handy search function should be able to help you out immensely here. I've seen a couple white papers available about mecanums and most of your mounting questions can be answered right on the product page on AM's website.

With Axle and Hub: If driven by a shaft, these parts are needed for each wheel

• A hub fitting the size of the drive shaft. For 1/2" dia. shafts, use a 500 Key Hub (am-0077) for each wheel.
• #10-32 x 5/8" long screws (6), and #10-32 nylock nuts (6) fasten the hub to the wheel.
• 1/8 x 1/8 x 3/4 steel machine key (am-1043), one per wheel

With Sprocket: If driven by a sprocket, these parts are needed for each wheel

• Flanged ball bearings with 1.125" od: either 3/8" inside diameter (am-0573), or 1/2" i.d. (am-0030)
• Two 550 sprocket spacers (am-0651) are used to space the sprocket away from the wheel, for chain clerance.
• A sprocket (type A) with a bolt hole circle of 1.875" diameter mounts to the wheels' interior bolt pattern.
• #10-32 x 1.75" long screws (6), and #10-32 nylock nuts (6) fasten the sprocket and spacers to the wheel.

As for chain or direct drive- it really depends if you need further reduction in speed than what your gearbox outputs at. What gearboxes are you using, and which wheels did you purchase?