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This is a gearbox for a direct drive system I have been working on. It was inspired by team 1097s direct drive system (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/20620). The gear ratio between the CIMs and the dewalt replaces the "final drive" ratio in a standard system. The gearboxes will be mounted on one end of the robot and a .5" drive shaft will run the length of the robot. The wheels will get power from the shaft through a several sets of miter gears. To avoid using U joints like team 1097 did I plan on using different thicknesses of tread or different sized wheels to get the center wheel offset.
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OK, not to be too pedantic about this, but "direct drive" and "gearbox" are oxymoronic when used to describe the same system. A direct drive system is, by definition, one in which the load is coupled directly to the output shaft of the motor with no intermediate gear box or other torque/speed modification in the linkage.
Other than the terminology issue, this looks like a nice design. If you are going to go with the idea of a 0.5" drive shaft running the length of the robot, I would suggest that you consider using a torque tube rather than a solid shaft. A 0.1" wall torque tube 24" long with a 0.5" bore will save approximately 40% of the mass of a solid 0.5" shaft made of the same material (and even more if the torque tube is aluminum vs. a solid steel shaft).
-dave