I have a rear swivel wheel attached to a short horizontal PVC pipe with u-bolts. The problem is that the weight of the battery is causing the bolts to slide around the pipe.
As it goes along it slowly collapses because the bolts slide around the pipe no matter how tight I make them, When I tighten the bolts the pipe squeezes into an oval and I'm worried it might break if too tight. Right now I'm thinking of trying to crank it down until the bottom of the pipe flattens out against the wheel plate. I kind of like the look but need something that's reliable. Any ideas?
Suggest you use bolts through the pipe (probably through another smaller pipe to prevent collapse) and not around with pipe clamps. Another option may be to use a folded sheet of sandpaper or similar, with the grit on the outside, to increae the friction from the clamps.
1) remove the castor wheel and install an accelerometer / gyro, making the bot balance on two wheels.
2) if that’s too radical, how about a piece of neoprene wrappedaround the pipe before the U bolts are screwed on? Or any other thin high-friction material.
