Skatin' on 32s

Today I came up with an initial design for the trucks, or carriages, that will carry the arms up and down along the belts.  I'm going with an almost 100% 3D printed design. With any luck, the only thing not printed will be the bearings and some rubber bands for tensioning.

Cut-Away of the wheel

First I worked on the 3D printed wheels that will house the SeeMeeCNC bearings.  They have a cavity in the center the exact size of the bearing.  I'll pause the print and drop in the bearing so it will be permanently encased in the 3D printed wheel.

I wanted to make them pretty big so that they will be nice and stable.  I ended up with a 32mm diameter.  

From there, I fit the wheels onto a model of the aluminum, measured the spacing, and used that to design the body of the truck.

I wanted to go with a four wheeled design because I think it will be easier and more stable than a three wheeled truck, despite a slight weight disadvantage.

There will be a panel on each side, with nubs for rubber band tensioners between them.

On the inside panel, the mounts for the magnets are sticking out the top at a 45 degree angle. The placement of these is just a guess at this time. (I ordered a set of magnet joints on eBay but they haven't arrived yet, so I can't measure them etc.) I'm sure I'll have to go through a few iterations once I print things out, test fit, and make adjustments. I made the holes on the right side slightly wider so that the axles can be rubber band tensioned as well.  

The outside panels are a mirror image of the inside ones but without the magnet mounts.  Someone commented the other day that the printer was Colts-colored so I thought why not go for a Colts theme.  

In addition to these parts, there will be four bolts that will form the axles, and 8 spacers to go around the axles between the two body panels.  The bolts will have nubs on each end to attach the rubber bands.
 
This is pretty much what the trucks are going to look like. I hope to get started on them in the next few days.