looking to upgrade from lawnmower wheels ...

cut it ...

Well, as is quite often the case I found some suitable wheels at
McMaster-Carr web site.

But most of these have bearing inside where the axle goes, and I'd like to
connect the motor straight to the wheel somehow - so the motor axle turns
the wheel. Anyone have experience "locking the bearings" ? Is that even a
viable option ?

I guess the other option is to attach a pulley to the wheel and drive it
with a belt.

Thanks for any help!

http://www.gokartsupply.com/rims.htm

this place was recommended to me. check them out

hope it helps

A little beefy for my application, but still a cool site to browse through!
I had no idea GoKart wheels were so small!
Does "live axle" mean one connected to a drive wheel ?

Thanks again !
JCD

Yes, I believe so.

Cool. This link goes in my notes, for sure. Seems like a great place to shop
at for outdoor robot parts!

These guys have a good collection of tires and wheels. They also have
motors, gearboxes and chain/sprockets: http://www.surpluscenter.com/

I have been dealing with them for a while and had good results.

Bob

Excellent! I like their presentation of caster wheels better than
McMaster-Carr --- easier to browse !
Thanks!

On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 01:54:08 -0500, "pogo"


This company that used to go by the name "Northern Handyman", I've
been to one of their retail stores around Atlanta, they have lots of
different kinds of wheels and tires:

http://www.northerntool.com/

There's this old standby for cheap imported, er, uh, "value" items:

http://harborfreight.com/

but if you expect to design a kit to sell as a business, you need a
supplier that's going to still have the same product available a year
or more down the road, so you don't have to redesign your bot for new
wheels while you have 10 orders from people wanting kits. For that,
one of the big industrial supply houses is surely a better bet.

http://www.mcmaster.com/
http://www.grainger.com

You already mentioned Mcmaster Carr (and I thought they had
everything). For others, Google or Yahoo for industrial supply.

If you really get big, you can order directly from the Chinese
manufacturers/distributors of these things.

I just saw this new post - thanks !
Where in Atlanta are they located ? I'm in the Smyrna area ...
Thanks again !
JCD

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 03:52:57 -0500, "pogo"


   I was thinking of the one in Duluth, but there's one on your side
of town in Marietta:

http://www.northerntool.com/retailstores/storelocations/georgia.htm

While I'm doing the surfing for you, Harbor Freight has a retail store
in Kennesaw:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/retail_stores.taf?f=detail&Retail_Store_ID 0

Fair enough ! :-) I will do the surfing for you sometime.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/retail_stores.taf?f=detail&Retail_Store_ID 0

I just visited that one a couple of weekends ago. Definitely a cool store to
window shop in.