Quote:
Originally Posted by marccenter
Comments: 1) Even though the hex bearings are double the cost ($4 vs $2), my design goal was to minimize machining operations associated with the hex shafts (not designed for production). This way, someone can build the entire gearbox without machining the hex shafts, with just the 2 water jet cut side plates and purchase of gears and hex shafts from Andy Mark and/or VEX Robotics in their home garage where mine was built.
|
You can keep this design constraint and still use cheaper round bearings if you use
this AndyMark part for your idler shafts. There's only enough room for two gears on that shaft, so for large reductions you'll want to increase the spacing between reductions in order to ensure there's enough room. There's a good post Adam Heard made about this style of custom gearbox I'll try and find.
Using this part and the same spacing as the Toughbox you can make a variety of large yet compact custom gearboxes, as long as the gears between stages don't intersect.