Customizable omni wheel prototype

thingiverse

THIS PROJECT IS NOT COMPLETE OR THOROUGHLY TESTED This is an updated version of my original omni wheel, parameterized in OpenSCAD this time around, which I recently mastered. The O-rings haven't been received yet, so I've only managed to test basic assembly of the components, not whether it actually functions as a practical omni wheel. The project's objective is to merge Arcwave's O-ring based omni wheel concept with mbbackus's split-ring one. Arcwave's approach featuring O-rings provides great traction, but their spinners operate on plastic axles within a plastic casing, making the rolling resistance rather poor. On the other hand, mbbackus utilized a split ring to offer the axle, which is really efficient, but employed washers for spinners, thus the friction appears low due to limited surface area in contact. I'm not looking to make it as massive as either of those designs, and since I already had 1.5" split rings on hand, mine also ended up tiny with 8mm ID O-rings rather than 1/2". The O-ring components haven't arrived yet, so they're partially untested at the moment. The wheel hub halves do print well and assemble neatly but the spinners remain to be proven whether or not they work efficiently under stress with these specific O-rings. No full system testing has occurred due to component deficiency; functionality remains to be determined as of now. You are free to utilize these but understand that imperfections could arise in application. INSTRUCTIONS FOR OPTIMIZATION MODIFY THE FOLLOWING VARIABLES ACCORDING TO SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS: CALCULATE THE MEASUREMENT OF YOUR SPLIT RING AND INSERT CORRESPONDING VALUES. CHOOSE O-RINGS THAT COMBINE WITH THE PREVIOUS SELECTION SUCCESSFULLY; diameters of under 8mm should be approached with caution as they may prove problematic. JIGGLE OTHER PARAMETERS AS DEEMED FITTING TO DESIRED PARAMETERS. SELECT AND PRINT COMPONENTS BY WHEEL AS FOLLOWS: 2 X HUB HALVES EACH SPINNERS ARE ADDED QUANTITY DEPENDANT ON CUSTOMIZATION WITH 10 SPINNERS SET AS DEFAULT VALUE; included also is STL of entire wheel, but a clear procedure has yet to be determined on incorporating the split ring during such integration. PROVIDE FOLLOWING PARTS PER WHEEL TO ENSURE OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE: A KEYRING (SPLIT RING). A GROUP OF NATURAL RUBBER O-RINGS; eBay is known for offering packs of hundreds suitable for this application.