Quote:
Originally Posted by ratdude747
I never have seen the point of Aluminum pinions. They're under so much concentrated load after all.. and they are so small that any gains in weight are too small to be worth the risks (this be case and point).
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This was the reason we went with steel ones in our gearbox. I did the Lewis gear calculations and was terrified. We wanted a 16:1 reduction so I believe we used 12T (CIM, steel) - 50T (Aluminum) - 14T (Steel) - 54T (Aluminum). Using all aluminum gears gave us a very small factor of safety if I remember right, and I just wasn't comfortable with all the dynamic loads from the defenses. I think we had the right decision.