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While taking another look at this, I thought of something else. You may want to consider putting the plates that support the worm on the "outside" and bolting into the side plates. This way the thrust loads from the gearbox (which will often be shock forces, not light constant ones) will pull in-line with the bolts used to bolt the plate on.

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DUDE THATS SWEET! Solidworks?

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Wow a lot of great ideas I will add those in this week. Thanks everyone for the input.

This rendering was done in ProE 5/ Creo, but I am also working on a Solidworks duplicate at my college.

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Which do you find easier to use? I was trained in Solidworks and find it very easy... but I am just curious.

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Hmm good question. I was first trained in ProE and then self taught myself SolidWorks and Autodesk Inventor. I would say for making individual parts SolidWorks takes the cake, the ribbon structure and layout is very very simple to both understand and use. However when you get into more complicated assemblies, ProE is better. ProE does a better job at keeping individual parts organized in a complex assembly. SolidWorks puts mates under its own tab and you have to find which one you want to modify, ProE automatically keeps mates together by part. SolidWorks outlines most lines (you can turn this off) and makes the part look very nice and easy to see. ProE is a little hard to stare at sometimes, but you can get used to it. ProE creates far better renderings than SolidWorks in my opinion.

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Acctually you Solidworks you can take a complex assembly and making it organized. if you click on the part and go to i think its mate parts, it lists it. Also you can go to your assembly file open the part and then go to mates in. all your parts will be there.

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ProE versus solidworks is a somewhat unfair compairson, as Catia is the equivalent software from Solidwork's manufacturer.

I've had to use ProE a lot for school, and prefer solidworks and Catia to it. To each his own. Also, trivially correction but mates are also listed by part in solidworks.

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Yeah it is just really a personal decision. I really like ProE because all of the support you get from PTC is just amazing. It is very very helpfull for the build season.

Really?! that helps out a lot I haven't really done to much in SolidWorks yet in school so it is just me playing on the computer. Making a robot in both programs is possible, I like making things in ProE and then redoing the same parts in SolidWorks as good practice. Although I don't know a lot of SolidWorks shortcuts and tips like I do with ProE. But PTC really just makes team communication a lot easier between FAB, CAD, and all the rest of the team.

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Good points regarding alignment and bent plates. It's typical to assume at least a .015" tolerance per bend, which means that our tolerance on the mounting hole locations is probably approximately .030". With a good brake operator and probably a little scrap, you can probably get this down to about .005" or less depending on the amount of time you spend on it.
Ideally, I think for a nice tight tolerance on the axle for the worm, I would say bend a c-channel and then machine it. You should be able to get down to a .0001" tolerance.
One critical feature that I haven't seen mentioned yet is backlash adjustment. Typically, any gear set will require some adjustment for backlash. This will impact the precision of your drive system as well as efficiency and lifetime.
Since I was Jonathan's mentor, I know he's probably already got most of this in mind...can't wait to see the next iteration! ;)

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My suggestion to you, as a daughter of a solidworks pro, is take some time to play with the software. Slow down and youll find the short cuts. :)

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Thanks Josh :) Yeah, you read my mind. I have already swapped the side plates out with a C frame lol and I moved the mounting hole locations as well.

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Just throwing this out there to make it easier -- Solidworks also has a little button its popup ribbon that says "View Mates". If you select a part on your render and then click the button, it lists all of the current mates for the part. Then you can edit/delete the mates as you see fit. Works wonders when doing distance mates for welded parts.

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Ah the infernal CAD software debate...

I've really found that the software someone "learned to CAD" on, tends to be their favorite (I wonder why??). It really comes down to personal preference.

My only recommendation to students is to stay flexible with what software you use. This isn't an Apple vs. Microsoft debate. Ive had jobs where I've had to work within Pro/E, SolidWorks and Inventor in one day, often using 2 packages at a time. I know many of my classmates from Northeastern went out and learned all kinds of software packages on their various co-ops, and now full-time jobs.

Don't limit yourself to one software package. As students, you have access to all kinds of free software, try them out, even just for kicks!

-Brando

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Even in the Apple v Microsoft v Linux debate... stay flexible. There have been many days where I go from Windows -> Mac -> Linux and back several times. It is the same reason I know several different programming paradigms, staying flexible gives your more ways to solve a problem effectively.

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I was thinking in more "old school" terms when there was a lot bigger of a gap between the two companies (and Linux). Just like us mechanical guys, you software guys need to stay flexible (probably even more so) as you pointed out.

-Brando