[Swan217]

Originally Posted by jpsaul7usa

Intro:
Ok, so my team's tinkering around with the idea of making a continuous variable transmission.... and I guess I should ask how does that design of a CVT rate among others?

A CVT is a good idea if you want a broad spectrum of speed vs. torque. And there isn't just one way to make a CVT. There are a few on the FIRSTWiki, there's also one at ThunderChickens.Org in our whitepapers. That was our design in 2002, which worked very well (once we got over the current issues).

most veteran teams toss the idea aside for more conventional, practical, and cheaper designs.

It all depends on what you're trying to do. The ThunderChickens' CVT is very good for pushing matches, but if you don't need to push very much, there's no point in having it. If you have a game for speed, you want a speedy robot, not a tough robot, and vice versa. This year our robot didn't even shift gears, because a torque/speed tradeoff wasn't necessary. Whatever you do though, you need to make sure that it's RELIABLE above all. A fancy transmission won't get you very far if it doesn't work when you need it.

So I see there are lots of people on this board who know a thing or two about gear ratios and torque.

There's also a tutorial on drive trains in our whitepapers. It's by Paul Copioli(also on these forums), and it's very good. The tutorial taught me motors and gears better than my Physics teacher ever did. Also you can PM Paul for help with specific issues.

Which would be the best candidates to build, test, and try to improve upon? What's the simplest? The cheapest? The best

Though not extremely cheap, I fell in love with Chief Delphi's Dewalt transmissions this year. Very good design, durable, and pretty .