6WD questions

[Jared Russell]

It all comes down to how you are mounting your wheels, and how they are driven. There are so many different ways to manufacture a 6WD, that it's hard to enumerate through all the possibilities. How do you plan on building the frame? (Kit frame, extrusion, parallel plates, sheet metal, 2x1 or 1x1 tubing?) Just keep in mind that it is generally going to be easier (but not always) to move a wheel that is driven by belt or chain than it will be to move something that's direct-driven by a gearbox shaft.

Also keep in mind that once you have found a drop you like, you probably will never need to change it (unless your frame gets warped somehow). So unless you are designing specifically for a rapid-prototyping system, I wouldn't get hung up on being able to easily adjust wheel drop.

I defer to someone else on the effectiveness of 3/8" hex axles in FRC drivetrains, but of course, thicker axles are going to be stronger regardless of profile.