Product Overview
Found most commonly on the front intake rollers of FIRST Robotics Competition robots, these 2.25 in. HD Mecanum Vectored Intake wheels are a perfect simple solution to serialize game pieces on the floor before they enter your robot. They also help extend the effective "width" of an intake to help draw game pieces in from the corners of your robot. They can also be used to help serialize game pieces within a conveyor system inside your robot and pair great with our 2.25 in. Compliant Wheels. Made of high strength materials, these intake wheels are designed to be tough enough to withstand the rigors of FRC match play with rollers that are better retained for in high impact situations on the playing field.
The 2.25 in. HD Mecanum Vectored Intake Wheel comes as an unassembled kit of parts. Each order for these wheels will contain two 1/16 in. Allen Wrenches (am-4405) which are required for assembly. Because of the size of the hex socket on the fasteners, it is important to use sharp-ended fresh hex keys for assembly, and not ball-end drivers.
A traditional full set consists of 2 "right" wheels and 2 "left" wheels. The "right" and "left" refer to the direction the rollers are pointing when viewing the across it's rolling axis. If the roller in the middle of the wheel points up and to the right, it's a "right" wheel, and up and to the left would be a "left" wheel.
If using these as a drive wheel for a small robot platform, the configuration of these "right" and "left" wheels is important. Be aware that the "right" wheel does not mean that it goes on the right side of your robot. The proper configuration would be to have the wheels create an "X" pattern when viewing your robot from above and drawing lines parallel to the rollers as viewed. This means that a "right" wheel would be the FRONT RIGHT, and the REAR LEFT position, while the "left" wheel would be in the FRONT LEFT, and REAR RIGHT, of your robot when viewed from above. All 4 wheels are required to make a Mecanum drive holonomic system work properly.
2.25 in. HD Mecanum Vectored Intake Wheel
Six nylon rollers spin smoothly on high strength steel axles, retained into 0.09" steel side plates. The steel plates geometrically interface with two interior polycarbonate hubs, which form the interior of the wheel. These steel plates rest against the flange on the injection molded hub, which increases the overall bending strength of each roller seat. The two injection molded polycarbonate interior hubs are held together by the tension in all six roller axles around the wheel, with steel roll pins pressed in around the hex bore to keep everything aligned.