4x4 Off-Roader (42099) Mecanum base

 

This replacement base for 42099 uses mecanum wheels, each driven by a PF L-motor. Mecanum wheels allow diagonal & sideways motion, as well as in-place turning, and drifting. If I'm not mistaken, there are 22 possible movements (6 different types). Very fun, needless to say.

You'll need a 4-ports battery box, which isn't included in the inventory. The instructions are made with a MouldKing one, but adapting to Buwizz or Cada shouldn't be difficult. Operating with a controller is possible, but tricky since it requires up to 4 buttons being pressed simultaneously. It's probably much simpler with a phone app, but I don't have a smartphone so I can't try.

Geardown is 12:28 ≈ 2.3x, and there are no CV-joints involved.

The wheels are based on Yoshihito Isogawa's design, but heavily reworked: reinforced, and adapted to connect to standard hubs. Unfortunately they are quite expensive to build.

I designed the chassis with an independent suspension, but I think the slight bending it creates isn't so good for mecanum wheels, so at the very end of the build I lock it and make it dependent.

Note that the wheel "caps" are not purely decorative and shouldn't be omitted: they are part of the reinforcements, as they bind top-layer spokes with bottom-layer ones.

There's a learning curve to remember all the button combinations that produce the various movements. In the video there are gaps between moves because I keep looking back at the reference sheet (reference sheet part of the instructions).

A tiny modification to the frame attachments is needed, which is also shown in the instructions.

UPDATE:
I added a suggestion on how to use a Buwizz battery box instead.

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