[Ianworld]

My team used a nifty little solution last year to make the KOP transmission shift. The KOP transmissions are set up to tension chain by sliding and I saw this as an opportunity. I attached two v-belt pulleys to the output shaft. These were connected to opposite ends of a 6 wheel drive set up. Then by connecting the transmissions each to 2" bore pneumatics we would physically move the gearboxes back and forth. In one direction one v-belt was tight, and in the other direction the second v-belt was tight. It is far from an ideal solution but it is very, very simple. We had a prototype up and running in an hour and a half and the final design not much later. I wouldn't recommend this though unless you really want 2 speeds and can't go for stronger more robust method. The system was plagued by small inefficiencies and the v-belts would slip just before stall(saves your motors and you still get 90% strength, but sometimes you need that last bit.) A better way to tension and loosen the belts would probably be to create a rocking roller that would come down on the v-belts. They tension much better by pushing down in the middle than pulling on an end.