pic: SpamThingAcon Mechanum wheel system

[Tytus Gerrish]

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[B. Flaherty]

I know that my team as well as myself is curious about these Mechanum wheels. Is there anywhere that you can purchase them, or do you have to make them by hand? What does it require to make them, and what type of drive train would one need to be able to move laterally?

Thanks.

[Billfred]

So THAT'S what that whole SpamThingAcon tomfoolery was at Robot Rodeo!

If this one is just now seeing the light of day, think what these folks are cooking up now!

[Stephen Kowski]

can't wait to see that thing go from mecanum to 4WD w/ them pnuematics....

[Swampdude]

Originally Posted by Stephen Kowski

can't wait to see that thing go from mecanum to 4WD w/ them pnuematics....

You'd be waiting a while. This was a good idea. I'd still like to see it work. But between our 3 teams, the interest drifted as we got closer to kickoff. As far as a collaborative effort, it seemed most weren't interested in either the idea or working in this way - or everyone was just too busy. This was actually Georges idea. I'm not sure he was ready for the world to see it (Tytus you might owe George some royalties now)... What you see there is a stage it was in. It did get further than that. I bet 190 could do something with it.
Personally looking back on it, I think it might be a bit too many resources committed to the drive system. George, Nathan, you guys out there? You wanna finish this thing?

[Alex Cormier]

is that two cims and two fp's? why not just 4 cims? great work you always seem to amaze me.

[Swampdude]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

is that two cims and two fp's? why not just 4 cims? great work you always seem to amaze me.

We were designing this in spring 2004. Before we knew about the 4 cims in the kit. What you see there are drill motors and cims.

[Alex Cormier]

ahh, why not use this year, woulda worked great.

[RogerR]

one question: why so many small rollers, instead of a few big rollers. it seems like it would be easier to make if you were using half the number of rollers.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by RogerR

one question: why so many small rollers, instead of a few big rollers. it seems like it would be easier to make if you were using half the number of rollers.

My guess would be so that it would roll better

[Tytus Gerrish]

the use of 12 pairs of rolers on each wheel was andrew roudolph's idea. i think the ideal number of rolers is 6. its much smoother and its the smalest about you can make while covering the whole wheel Pluss finding Hex stock for the hubs is realy easy

[viking1902]

Another deterrent to finishing off the design was the hurricanes we had last summer. They really threw us off track.

[tiffany34990]

just a minor problem with the hurricane...it was such a great idea..and fun planning it all out...eventually maybe it'll get done... i never was able to get to meetings so i had to bug the info out of tytus always..lol..thanks tytus

well thanks again 1083 and 179 for 2004 the summer fun

[George1902]

From what I recall, this was the state of spamthingicon near the end of summer 2004. From there, two hurricanes and the Robot Rodeo made things difficult for us all.

Tytus: Pay no attention to Dan.* I have great respect for the people who can take my crazy pencil sketches and give them dimension. You have leet skillz, bro.

I'd be interested in pursuing this further. We recently had a meeting to discuss our summer projects, and drivetrain development is on the list.

*I know you can do this. I've seen you drive your robot. =-p

[Barry Bonzack]

That is just sick. Anyone interested in making the name spamthingaconnicane? ha ha ha.


Note: my spell check just exploded.