Wheels for a cordless drill gear motor | Any suggestions?

[willcaddy]

Hello Everyone,

I finally had the money to order the BotBitz 85A ESCs and now those have arrived I would like to get cracking on getting a test bench mobile. My only issue is I am struggling to find suitable small wheels that will fit my drill motors. I measured the threaded part of the shaft with some calipers and it is 9.3mm.

Anyone have any suggestions as to suitable small wheels for this? The tutorial I had been following from RoboWars Australia used Bunnings Red Wheels, which I cant find for love nor money.

Thanks a lot!

Will

[R9000]

Heheh, we need an FAQ somewhere on this subforum! Have a look at this: http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...l=1#post467492

You might want to make your own wheels out of HDPE if you want very small ones. Most of the wheels I see people use are about as tall as their robot.

[willcaddy]

Thank you! Sorry for not seeing this sooner -_- literally spend and hour googleing lol

[R9000]

Hey it's no problem at all. I had to ask when I was building - nobody tells you these things. Why can't these people just use normal threads?!

[willcaddy]

I know what you mean xD Thanks for taking the time to reply :-) Hopefully Caractacus Alpha build will be underway soon xD

[Runsler]

Instead of melting, you can just drill a hole smaller than the diameter of that weird imperial nut and hammer it in. I found that's working better and looking nicer.

But you still have to look out, it doesn't work for big wheels.
build a 6kg-bot with 30cm HDPE-wheels (somewhat Gabriel-Style) and had to deal with wheels falling off the nut almost every fight. But seen other bots doing well with that method, their wheels were just way smaller.
So do it for smaller wheels, and for bigger ones you'll need a hub of some sort.

[maddox10]

That weird Imperial nut is a 3/8 UNF, a rather normal US thread. Nothing Imperial to it. Yes, it uses inches and threads per inch, but the angle of the top ain't 55° , but 60° like the metric threads.

[Maxamuslead]

Depending on your robot, you could always look at some BaneBots wheel, I myself got four 2in 7/8 Orange (used 2 per axle) as i need some rather small but wide wheels and it was more cost effective for me. It really depend on your design

[lowndsy]

When I was still on drill motors I found these wheels

http://www.screwfix.com/p/select-rub...diameter/8359p

Work well with this nut:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3711183674...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (think I went for "long female")

The hole is a bit smaller than the nut but I didn't drill it out - I jigsawed some little guidelines matching the corner points of the nut, flooded the hole with hot glue and then hammered the nut in nice and snug.

The L/H screw goes through the narrower hole at the end to tie it together nicely. After reading that same Australian guide I made sure the hole in the washer wasn't too loose. I also hacked off the little neck on the rear so the motor fits closer to the body of the wheel.

Then I got fed up trying to mount the motors and bought some Gimsons.

[Bodge Job]

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/Blue-E...-Wheels-1402-c
I believe another good source of wheels (not used them my self but I think others have). Might be heavier, but are sturdy and have a nice big boss to put a nut in. If your doing the hot nut/ small hole method, only drill the hole as deep as you want to put the nut in (not all the way through) means nut can only fall out the side you put it in, and then use a large washer on the reverse thread screw, acting against the wheel, to clamp it all together. Hope that makes sence.
Or if using the long female nut on that eBay link. you won't need a large washer (will hold the motor to the nut really well) just need to find a way to keep the nut in the wheel well.
Oh and longer nuts are often better than short (acts as a longer lever). Hope this helps

[Maxamuslead]

hmm wondered where you got those large blue ones from... Still, no use in my current project

[Al_]

A quick work of caution on the Bearing Boys blue wheels that are linked a couple of posts up. They do not have a plain bore centre, instead they have a roller bearing pressed into them which makes them no good for fitting on to the drill motor/gearbox output shaft. (Yes, I bought some without checking ). You could press the bearing out but the bore you are left with is bigger than the O/D of the typical 3/8UNF nut, so still not straight forward.

Bearing boys do a grey wheel which does have a plain bore that a 3/8UNF nut can be inserted/melted into. They feel about the same level of grip as the blue wheels, but I have nothing to confirm this.

Also as noted both the blue wheels and the grey wheels are heavy, but feel reasonably sturdy. I got some nylon wheels from them and screwed mountain bike tyre on to the outside and saved around 300g for a pair of 4" wheels.

[Bodge Job]

Oh thanks for correcting me! I wasn't aware of the bearings, they make every thing more awkward! (was getting some my self at somepoint so I'll keep that in mind)

[Roboteernat]

bearingboys wheels need to be 'plain bore' to be the ones suitable.
i bought a selection of blue wheels, and they are fine.

Although the better grippy ones i bouht through a work supplier - BIL group. They are amazing but sadly bearing boys were just cheaper with a 20% off code, however the rubber is slightly different.

[daveimi]

I've been using black bearing boys wheels and they've been great on a pair of drills.