Mecanum Wheels Load Capacity

[robertflitsch]

I’m doing a project of installing mecanum wheels to an entertainment center cabinet, so that it may easily roll around a room. Mecanum wheels are an important aspect of this project, to allow for easy translation or rotation around the room, to enable safe travel.

With a safety factor, the total load the system should need to bear is ~170lbs, or ~42.5lbs per wheel.

The Vex 4" Mecanum Wheel set looks perfect for the project. Unfortunately though, there are no load bearing specs listed for the wheels. What are their load bearing capacity per wheel?

Additionally, I have significant experience constructing traditional wheeled robots, however this is my first mecanum wheel project. Is determining the necessary motor specs the same as with standard wheels (calculating necessary torque by nature of the weight of the robot and the diameter of the wheels)? Or are there other factors at play that must be considered, and make the calculation a bit more complicated? (i.e. possible(?) differences in effective torque when the robot is translating forward vs translating sideways vs rotating, friction on the rollers, etc.)

Thanks!!!

[cbenson]

The Vex 4" Mecanum Wheel set looks perfect for the project. Unfortunately though, there are no load bearing specs listed for the wheels. What are their load bearing capacity per wheel?

They are injection molded plastic and are meant for small robots. They are not even in the right ballpark for the weight capacity you need. You will need something more industrial like:
robotshop.com/en/4-mecanum-w … right.html (too close)
robotshop.com/en/andymark-4- … t-8in.html (safety margin)

Is determining the necessary motor specs the same as with standard wheels (calculating necessary torque by nature of the weight of the robot and the diameter of the wheels)?

Only for “classic” motion (forward / reverse / rotate left and right). Motion side to side is quite different and unfortunately we do not have the necessary equations.