pic: A mechanum wheel that shouldn't bump around at all.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Have you ran various mecanum wheels and encountered "bumping" problems? What improvement will eliminating this "bumping" give?

There are various nominal benefits, such as more reliable traction and an accelerometer with much less noise. No single benefit stands out, but it's always fun to ponder new designs that address even the small issues in order to perhaps come up with a much better design.

This is good work for creating a nice round profile. However, the hardest part is in the mounting of the rollers; a single plate that forms the middle of a "T" may or may not be enough to support the cantilevered stresses from the rollers. 357 may be able to give some insight there. Additionally, the mounting of the rollers will inevitably create some sort of gap when mounted in the center -- i.e. each roller as shown is not possible. In reality each roller is more like two roller halves, split in the center where the mount goes.

Combining the two dominant Mecanum designs into a hybrid design may be a better solution. A hybrid design has 3 rollers with 2 thin mount plates; the two rollers on the outside look like rounded cones and are cantilevered whereas the roller in the middle looks more like a bulging omni wheel roller (or a squished donut).