Proof of concept - 360deg powered caster steering for future scissor lift

[Moximitre]

I'm attempting to build a scale-ish fully powered scissor lift. The caster-style steering is a feature I really want, but keeping it small has proven incredibly difficult. Video below of it working (jankily). It uses friction of a universal joint directly against the tire, which might be an "illegal" technique, though I'm not sure. Opinions welcome.

Has anyone built a nice lift? I haven't seen many out there.

 

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by Moximitre
pic upload

[Bartybum]

2 hours ago, Moximitre said:

It uses friction of a universal joint directly against the tire, which might be an "illegal" technique, though I'm not sure. Opinions welcome.

Looks interesting. Do you have any other angles we could look at it from?

[SaperPL]

I made something similar few years back, but with wheels being directly driven:

 

 

Some additional info can be found in studio renders here: https://imgur.com/a/y6Vlkp8

I'm not sure if you can really shrink something like this much more unless perhaps you would make the wheels as pairs and put the gearing between them, but then you're increasing the friction when rotating them. Note that it's tough tu have the wheels at the edge of the vehicle in something like this because you have to have that small turntable underneath the panels. That's why I built this bus in such rounded way.

[Moximitre]

oh damn that's super cool. looks way more sturdy than my solution too. Hmm...