Quote:
Originally Posted by sdcantrell56
Absolutely beautiful design and I love the idea of keeping the belts internal. We used belts the past season and they are ridiculously robust as long as you make sure they're tensioned correctly.
My question is did you broach the plastic wheels for direct drive or is there a hub in them?
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The wheels are currently hex broached through the plastic. There is a little concern that the plastic will not hold up, and if that is the case we will be making aluminum hubs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EricVanWyk
That looks really pretty, but I'm a total newb when it comes to belt drives.
Can you explain it to me in a way that will allow me to teach it to a team later?
Specifically:
Why belt vs chain?
How do you tension it?
Any quick rules-of-thumb I should know about?
Or better yet, how do I tell if a belt system is good? Often, knowing if the result is good is almost as useful as knowing how to get a good result. {P=NP?}
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We've never had any real problems with chain, we were just interested in some of the advantages of using belts. Some of which include weight, efficiency, and even cost. We used all Gates belts and pulleys which were donated free of cost. It is an offer that started in 2009 and you can find details about it here:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ighlight=gates
As for our tensioners, the ones in the tube are a cam attached to a bolt with a roller bearing riding on the bolt. When you loosen the nut at the end of the bolt and turn the bolt then the cam presses against the bottom of the frame and it tensions the belt running inside the tube.
Here is a picture of the tensioner inside the tube:
As for the tensioner on the gearbox, It takes one bolt to tension the belt on the gearbox. The bolt just adjusts a lever arm up or down and a plastic cylinder pressed on a roller bearing tensions the belt.
Here is a picture of the gearbox tensioner:
When it comes to rules-of-thumb I'd say, from what our experience has been so far, one of the most important things is to make sure that there is proper tension.