Two Part Modular Compliant Wheel Set

These wheels are designed to be as modular as possible. There are two sets of parts, the “outer” parts and the “inner” parts. The outer parts should be printed in TPU or another flexible filament (I designed these for a 90A TPU). The outer wheel diameters range from 4” to 2.5”, and there are versions for each size with and without tread. The “inner” components have a variety of different Hex and D-Shaft bores. If none of those bores work for your project you can always open up the inner blank file and modify it to your needs.

Printing:
Printing Flexible filaments can be challenging, but with the right settings it will print quite nicely. Settings will depend heavily on your printer and filament but A good general guide for printing flexibles can be found here: https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/how-to-succeed-when-printing-with-flexible-filament. I recommend higher wall thickness and greater than 35% infill. Keep in mind that if the wall thickness and infill are two low, it could potentially affect how the wheel bends. The “inner” piece should be printed out of a hard material like PLA or PETG and with 100% infill. Both pieces should be printed with high detail, so the pattern used to mate the two pieces together comes out.

Assembly:
Putting the “inner” and “outer” pieces together is really straightforward. Put a little soap and water on the “inner” part and gently tap it into the “outer” part with a hammer. If you do not use soap and water, you’re probably going to have a really bad day putting the two parts together. I recommend kind of tapping along the pattern mating the two parts together in order to ensure everything is nice and flush. Once these two parts are tapered and fit is pretty tight, so once these parts go together do not expect to be able to get them apart again.

My name is Vincent, if you have any questions feel free to email me at vtirani@gmail.com. If you need other files or custom sizing for anything, email me and I’ll hook you up with something.