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So, after Legoland in May, and again at MCM Manchester, R2’s wheels have been scrubbed clean of all tread clear down to the plastic hubs. The first set of Banebot wheels lasted a year so after Legoland I just replaced like for like, thinking they’d last another year.

Nope.

A lot of other builders use Colson wheels, so I went on a hunt for them. Now I’d got his center omniwheels from Vex Robotics, and they have a whole line of wheels and accessories so I went looking through their website.

What I found there was a system using hex shaped axles, rather than the current round ones. This meant a more even transfer of force from the drive cog to the wheels. With the round shaft, all the torque was through the keyway that was cut into it, but there is no need for that when the shaft is hexagonal.

A quick order online (well, two as I forgot to get new bearings) and a UPS delivery, and the new hardware was here. Everything on the drive shaft had to be replaced, including the cog, to make use of the hex shaft. It didn’t take long to press fit it all together and now R2 has a nice new drive system.

One down, one to go. Also working on a better system for having the battery boxes attached to the foot shell, as it is a real pain to remove them which is needed to get the drives out.