Omni-Wheel Stop
RUR3
Entry ID #: 2701
Created: Wed, Jan 13, 2016 10:12 AM
The reason I chose to create this part was to improve the drivetrain of my teams robot. The issue we wanted to solve was the imbalance of different wheel types and the impact it would have on the autonomous period. Specifically our team wishes to use only use VEX 4-inch omni directional wheels to keep the bot as level as possible. The issue is that any other robot could push us in game and the wheel stop was designed to lock the omni rollers of the wheel in place. A 3D printer will be used to create this part. The wheel lock would then be used on the center wheels of a 6 wheel drivetrain. This would essentially render them similar to traction wheels, but since all the wheels on the drivetrain are the same, there should be no major offset in the exact size of wheels as opposed to if we actually used a 4 inch VEX traction wheel. This part would then allow our programmers to acheive a higher level of accuracy when coding. I used Autodesk Inventor to create my part. I started by opening a model of the VEX 4 inch omni directional wheel as reference, as I began to sketch my part. I used the polygon command in order to create a 12 sided shape similar to the wheel. and begun sketching a spoke on one of the twelve sides. I then extruded the necessary shapes. Once I completed one individual wheel stop spoke, the circular pattern tool played a big part in acheving the final product. I simply used it to duplicate my extrusions around the other eleven sides to finish my part In creating this part I learned that my design had to take in consideration the medium in which it was to be made. Since this part was to be made on a 3D printer I had to keep my dimensions a little less than exact to avoid a part that was too big or too small. I will continue to use Autodesk Inventor to design parts for my robotics team, in addition to teaching new members the basics of 3D design. 3D design will help me in my career path since I'm currently an electrical engineering student and aspire to design an build robots in the future. CAD software will play an integral part when I design robots or anything that must be produced in a factory setting.