Help with Gearboxes

[Madison]

Originally posted by D. Gregory
Here is an idea I had for a non-shifting two motor gearbox. Can you guys and gals take a look at it and let me know how I can improve it. Keep in mind it is just a concept and is extremely rough with no actual measurements, just a concept. It put it as an attachment. Thank you very much for your help.

In concept, that is what a non-shifting coupled motor transmission would look like. It's just a matter of determining gear ratios to minimize losses and designing a framework to house all of it.

The only part that I would show concern over is the need for chain at all. It is redundant to change the motors' output RPM through a gearbox and then connect each gearbox via chain. Instead, you may want to investigate, as has been mentioned, coupling each gearbox to a single output shaft. As an alternative to gears, you can use chain and sprockets to alter the RPM as needed and, again, couple the output to a single shaft. Gears would be much easier to deal with, however, as they won't change properties as much as chain might (i.e. stretching.)

You can eliminate chain from your design altogether by attaching a gearbox and motor to each driven wheel, even. Or, similarly, you can make driveshafts ( ) There are many possibilities for driving the robots and they each offer advantages and disadvantages.

You're on the road to designing a basic gearbox. Remember, though, that harnessing that power may not be the best solution for this year's game. Always design with the game in mind, as an amazing drivetrain is certainly something to be proud, but it may not serve your need to effectively compete.