The Project

Make some super light super cheap super robust 6" wheels for my beetle weight Real Genius


Design Goals

  • Cheap
  • Light
  • Easy to make
  • Robust

Things needed

  • Foam Roller
  • Silicon Caulk (for traction)
  • 3d printed hub
  • Dead Axel (I knew it was a non starter to direct mount these)

The Story

These wheels ride on a dead axel in Real Genius and are gear driven from 2 84:1 planetary gear motors.

I ordered a few foam rollers from Amazon, printed a cutting and drilling jig, cut them by hand, used a router to pocket them, then chamfered them by hand.

Real Genius Drive Setup

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Build Sequence:

(queue montage music)

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The Results

These wheels worked great and held up remarkably well. I took 3rd at Sept 21 WRC and didn't change wheels once.