pic: 2009 Mecanum Hub - Team 1595

[dtengineering]

I think it may be possible for you to create a functionally, if not aesthetically, identical hub without using a 5 axis mill. In fact, it may be possible to do without using anything more than a good lathe, turret head mill, and indexing head.

I don't say this to discourage you from trying to get time on a 5 axis machine... go for it! It may be that given current economic conditions that some machine time is an easier donation for a shop to make than financial support. Rather I suggest this because one of the things I really like about FRC is that it encourages designers to think like builders... in other words, it doesn't matter how good it looks in CAD if you can't build it (quickly and efficiently) in real life!

Just as you've found it to be an interesting and useful exercise to design this hub, working in various machining constraints ("How can we make this without a 5 axis machine?") can make it an even more beneficial exercise. Talk to some machinists about what they can do with non-CNC equipment and you may be amazed.

Ooooorrrr.... why not go all the way down the rapid prototyping track and use a 3D printer and lost wax casting to go almost directly from CAD to metal?

Oh, right... no metal allowed this year.

Jason

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

Talk to some machinists about what they can do with non-CNC equipment and you may be amazed.

Or just look at some old "stuff", you'll be amazed at what we were capable of making before computers came along.

It actually looks like it should not be too hard to support the wheel at an angle for the milling operation. An indexing head would be handy, of course.

Also the design of the center could be slightly modified to make it much easier to machine...just change those three strange shaped openings to simple round holes. What you lose in artistic appeal, you might more than make up for in ease of fabrication.