The Small Wheel is a machine block that works almost like a castor wheel (i.e. a shopping trolley wheel). But not quite.
Settings[]
This block has no configurable settings.
Behaviour[]
The Small Wheel is, in reality, a low-friction pole. Unlike other wheel and cog blocks, it does not rotate in any way, and cannot propel a vehicle on its own.
It doesn't even physically rotate side-to-side - that is purely visual and has no real effect.
Since it's a low-friction block, a vehicle using them is a Sled, and all of the same lessons apply - high speed, no sideways friction, and even slightly bumpy terrain can be lethal. The last point is the biggest problem, thanks to its low break force.
Usage[]
The first and most obvious use is for aircraft landing gear. It's small, and it's lightweight - beyond that, it doesn't get violently unstable at high speed like normal wheels, particularly when Scaling is involved - an Unpowered Wheel of the same (apparent) size at takeoff speed is bouncy at best and explosive at worst.
It has one glaring drawback - its abysmal break force. For aircraft landing gear, which must take heavy loads, this is undesirable. This can be solved by placing it on a Grabber, which is twice as strong. With some finagling and scaling, it is possible to have the wheel and grabber both connected to the root block (e.g. a Steering Hinge) at the same time, which is even stronger.
While it is possible to use these as car wheels when scaled up, they are unwieldy, fragile, and slippery, making them ill-suited for anything serious.
The fact that they visually rotate to face the direction of movement, but don't actually rotate, also makes them ill-suited for purely cosmetic purposes.
Trivia[]
- When it was added it was possible to set its mass, but this was removed in v0.10.
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