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Originally Posted by greencactus3
i was just wondering.. any grease or sumthing you reccomend for the gears? and the wide open design. should i be considering a lexan covering or sumthing?
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(sorry to not reply sooner)
Here are my personal opinions about greasing gearboxes... others may disagree:
(this advice is focused on the AM Shifter and AM Shifter 2)
1. I like to run them for an hour or so while still dry (no grease). This way, they "work themselves in". Some people have used lapping compounds to help this process, but these gearboxes don't need that much help. They spin very freely even while dry. These gears are not perfect (none are), but they are very good meshes with each other. The more they run, the more efficient the meshes will become. Running them dry for a while will make the gears form themselves to each other a bit. After 1 hour of running, you should see a gearbox that is more freely spinning.
2. After running a gearbox dry, adding lubrication is good, but don't put on a heavy, thick grease. While the grease will be good for the gearbox, it is also a magnet for debris. Use a light grease (Lithium) or even an oil for lubrication. Heavy grease will work, if you enclose the gearbox and keep debris out of it.
3. The Dog Shifter gear (the thing that rides on the interior hex shaft and switches back and forth between the two output gears) will run smoother if it is lightly oiled. A short squirt of WD-40 once in a while works well for this.
As for enclosing the gearbox with a sheet of polycarbonate or aluminum, that is a good idea. It keeps the gearbox cleaner and keeps things (fingers!) out of the gearbox.
Also... for an AndyMark update:
We are currently keeping up with all orders. We have sprockets and gearboxes in stock, and we will ship them out within a day or two of receiving the order.
Some of our initial "D-hole", 28 tooth gears for the
Upgrade Kit had broached holes that were not quite straight, but they are good now.
Our molded omni-wheels are rolling off the shelves. Good thing we had plenty of those made.
AM Shifters and the
AM Shifter 2 (can handle the Mini-Bike motor as an option) are both in stock, ready for delivery.
Aluminum Sprockets are all in stock now. Teams are buying many of the smaller sprockets (28, 32, 36 tooth) as good replacements for heavier steel sprockets. These all have 6 mounting holes on a 1.875" bolt circle for easy mounting.
Mark and I have been answering calls and emails in the evening, along with processing orders. If you get your order in before 10:00pm, it will most likely be shipped out the next day. For a while, we had a 4-5 day wait on a few fabricated parts, but we have caught up our fabrication with our orders. A few patient teams had to wait longer for some 28 tooth sprockets and the original AM Shifter, but both are in stock now.
Good luck to all,
Andy