[Brandon Holley]

We've made custom gearboxes for our robot every year I've been on the team (06-present) and as far as I can tell just about every year prior to that (98-05).

We've tried several designs, and combinations all with various degrees of success. The main reason we continue to produce custom gearboxes is because we're good at it. We've gotten the process down quite solidly so we are able to tweak and modify our design each year without too much of an issue. We're able to dial into exact speeds and different wheel sizes/configurations. The custom factor allows us to take as much weight out of these designs as possible.

In my time on the team we've constructed 2 speed shifters using AM guts, 2 speed shifters using just the AM dog and custom gears, 2 speed shifters using a ball-lock style (fully custom), a few single speeds including a 6 motor single speed and even some drivetrains that build the gearbox into other aspects of the drive (eliminating the gearbox itself).

Our resources and support have allowed us to do this and we are quite grateful for it. We will continue to take this approach and continue to refine our designs as necessary.

-Brando