[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Formerly Famous

The tensioning system will be spring powered so that we wont really have to check on the chain too much.

Spring loaded tensioners are notoriously unreliable. I would suggest the "traditional" west coast tensioning method of sliding bearing blocks, or possibly a nylon / delrin sliding standoff for each chain section.

When you say don't take the chain through a tube, what do you mean? Would the in side the side channel there count as your tube?

I would prototype a scale version of this drive and figure out how serviceable the chain is through the completely open bottom hole.

I like this drivetrain... reminds me a lot of Vex.

Now for my design questions... I have no experience, so these comments are worthless. Would it make sense to add some fillets to the triangular cutouts in the sheet? What if you had the inner flange bend in toward the chassis, so you could rivet the belly pan to it? This would also increase the serviceability of the drivetrain by giving you more access to the chain.