pic: Ultralight Spoked Wheel

[magnets]

Originally Posted by evanperryg

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Under what conditions did you perform FEA? Wheel "strength" can be measured in different ways.

You can measure how much weight it can hold. For an aluminum wheel like this, that's not going to be a problem for just carrying around a robot.

You will have to worry about shock loading, as a rocking/tipping robot can come crashing down quickly. If the wheel is used for a long time fatigue can come into play too.

You could also measure how much torque it can withstand before either the hex strips out or the spokes snap off.

You also have to worry about what happens if you suddenly run the wheel into a wall at high speeds getting pushed by a robot. If there's a step in the field (like in 04), you can really destroy a wheel this way.

There also the issue of side loads. Imagine holding the wheel's axle still, the pushing on the rim on the wheel, parallel to the shaft, to try to rotate the wheel on an axis that isn't its axis of rotation.

As for machining, you could either 3d print aluminum with laser sintering (extremely expensive) or you could manufacture each of the spoke plates and weld it into place.

I agree, it's not practical (a VersaWheel weighs less), but it is a cool looking part.

On the topic of cool wheels, 118's 2012 wheel was very cool looking too.