While I’m waiting for my latest project to finish rendering, which will be sometime tomorrow – I began working on a very complicated model that I’m sure will be by far the most complex things I’ve designed so far.
A wooden version of the Spirit / Opportunity Rovers currently residing on Mars. As my only material is wood (by choice) and all my parts must be cut out of 2D – I think this is a great opportunity to really challenge myself. So far, I’ve spent the past two days working on just getting the wheels to function correctly. Here’s a picture.
Wooden Caster Wheels - each wheel is about 7cm in diameter.
There is still a lot of work to get things right but overall, I’m happy with how it’s coming along. Here is another picture showing a wheel in more detail as so much is hidden by the housing. Basically, with the use of cross-members, you have a free spinning inner wheel inside of the free spinning outer wheel – the axle doesn’t need to spin which makes it a must stronger model overall and simpler to build.
Solid axle (not shown), free spinning outer wheel with a free spinning inner wheel
Although I have many limitations set upon myself with this model, including (so far) a 10 minute rendering time – I think this will be a heck of a cool model. I’m not looking for 100% accuracy with it, my goal is to simply make it with a few moving parts regardless of how much it might end-up costing to actually produce. I enjoy the challenge of designing things that maybe others never thought was possible using only two items. A laser cutter and a piece of wood.
So much still left to learn, test and design…
Been thinking about your wheel a little bit; beeswax would be helpful in the closed wheel to reduce friction/wear on the moving parts and perhaps give the wheels a longer life? Looking forward to seeing the finished rover.
Hi Josh, funny thing is, just yesterday I was thinking that Olive Oil would be a great lubricant in it because it would be absorbed by the wood… though vegetable oil would be just as good. I think having two independent “spinning” features in the wheel will mean that even if it does stick, the wheel will still spin though, after time – I can see it being an incredibly smooth ride.
I never thought of the wheel system before the rover but the more I play around with it, the more I really like it and hope to use it on future models.
Thanks for your comment Josh!
Jon