This was one of wheels we use on our shooter. During quarter-finals match 1 at the West Michigan District, it decided it wanted to break. Thankfully the rubber stayed attached and it wasn’t thrown off the field hurting anyone.
And this is when you thank your inspector for getting on you for keeping your throwing wheels covered, I’m glad no one got hurt
Exactly right.
Though, I wonder if some of the wheels in use wouldn’t just turn the cover into more shrapnel upon catastrophic failure.
Then again, that’s why the drivers stand behind a lexan wall.
I don’t think I’ve seen a cover this year that could withstand a wheel that really wanted to come apart. Most guards are more about finger protection. Then again, I haven’t been to an event yet where they mandated across-the-board guarding.
Regardless, that’s quite terrifying. I’m glad everyone’s ok. How often do you replace the wheel?
We had replaced just before the event. But with full court shooting, 30 to 40 disc’s were passing through it each match. There was ideas of replacing just before eliminations, but we felt they looked good based on previous use.
We had a similar issue at South Florida last year.
Video: http://youtu.be/-10NzmkJaaE?t=2m10s
The encoder on the wheel broke during the match and sent the wheel to full speed, where it stayed for a good portion of the match. Eventually, it was too much for the tread to handle and it partially came off the wheel. The flap of tread then came around the wheel and obliterated our camera.