pic: 2011 "Nova" Swerve Drive (Front)

[Jedward45]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

I'm not generally a fan of worm gears for drivetrains (see here, at page 30 for a discussion of low efficiency, especially as the reduction increases). However, seeing as you're only replacing a CIMple Box (4.67:1), and maybe part of the 4:1 bevel gear set (since I found a 2:1 set that might work for you), your total reduction is only around 10:1. With a well-designed structure and high-quality worm gear, you can probably achieve 90% efficiency on that reduction, which is quite competitive with spur gears. You'll probably need a stiffer structure to make it happen, though (alignment is critical with worm gears).

Out of curiosity, with those 2:1 Bevels, the 5:1 Cimple box, and 3" wheels, what would a good FPS estimate be?