Turning torque

[Ether]

Im not sure what I was thinking with the .002 inches. The wheel manufacturer gave me a calculated surface area for this load of .051inches.

Surface area is not measured in inches.

What material is the wheel made of, and what is the cross-sectional shape of the wheel? (i.e. like a forklift wheel shape or a motorcycle wheel shape)

[Juggernaut]

Sorry, .051in^2.

It is a Shore A durometer material call Vulkosoft. The wheel has a flat surface like a forklift wheel.

[jspatz1]

Any calculation you might do on this has a good chance of being off by such a large margin that it is not practical to actually use it in sizing your system. You would probably get a far more usable result by measuring a physical test if you can arrange it. Build a pivot, load the wheel, torque it with a lever, measure the force, calc the torque.