pic: VEX Wheel Prototype

[Chuck Glick]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

What type of machine was it printed on and from what material? Also, what's the overall diameter and width of the wheel? What do you plan for the wheels moving forward?

Rapid prototyping by FIRST teams is fascinating. It offers some advantages in saved time and money, but it can also make the manufacture of some complex parts seem a bit too easy. I'm curious to learn more about your experiences.

We have a Dimension BST 768 printer. It uses abs plastic. The outside diameter of the wheel is 3.125". And i'm using the 1" wide roughtop material used on the IFI traction wheels, secured with gorilla glue (hope that answers the going forward question).

The ABS plastic is quite strong, definately strong enough for a vex bot, but not strong enough if used in a high stress envronment. The machine is a great way to make simple parts quickly, and to help proto the larger ones. Even though the printer makes things easier, it definately takes a lot of time. This wheel took 5 hours to print. If it was just a solid wheel with no spokes, it would probably take around 12. Also our printer seems to be tempremental at times, and will just not work, which leads to a phone call to our local technician, and is usually back up and running within a week of that phone call.