pic: Enigma Wheel 2

[EricH]

Not totally sure on how to do this myself, especially in Inventor, but:

Create a workplane parallel with the axis of rotation of the wheel and running through the center of the wheel. Make your rectangle/square/groove shape on the workplane and do a revolve feature around the axis of rotation of the wheel.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by EricH

Not totally sure on how to do this myself, especially in Inventor, but:

Create a workplane parallel with the axis of rotation of the wheel and running through the center of the wheel. Make your rectangle/square/groove shape on the workplane and do a revolve feature around the axis of rotation of the wheel.

A quicker/alternative method for the groove may be to use an extruded cut from the mid plane.

Make a sketch at the midplane of your wheel (the plane that would divide your wheel in half along the circumference).

Make a sketch with 2 concentric circles. Constrain one of those circles to be the outer edge of your wheel. Add a distance constraint between the two circles (this will be the depth of your groove; be sure the 2nd circle is smaller than the outer before adding the distance dimension).

Now extrude cut, and use the "midplane" feature as opposed to the standard "blind". Set your distance to be however wide you want your groove to be and build your feature. Voila, a tread groove.

Let me know if you have any questions.

-Brando

[JamesCH95]

From my experience designing wheels I've found that the most efficient way to make a wheel goes like this:

-Make a sketch with two enclosed sections: the "spider" (a spider is the hub and spokes) and rim cross sections
-Revolve the spider
-Extrude-cut the spider to create 1 spoke
-Make a circular pattern to create all the spokes
-Revolve the rim from the original sketch (use the "share sketch," or similar, option)
-Do any finishing fillets you may need

I've made a couple dozen wheel designs using this method and I've found it to be very robust. There are some flourishes that make it run even smoother, see what you can work out!