4 Motor Drive Train! EEEEK!

[Anton Abaya]

I know some teams are attempting this, as they want to be able to pull these darn heavy goals. So I figured this thread my be of some use.

To those teams who have done 4 wheel drive in the past with drills and Fisher Price. Wanna post some designs?

Did you have the Drills and FPs in one transmission?
Did you gear down the Drills to 100rpm (FP's output rpm)?
Did you gear up the FPs from 100rpm to 300rpm (drill motor's rpm)?
Did you have problems with different RPMs between motors?

I figured I can easily gear down or up a motor to match a different one at no load. That's simple enough. But what happens when the load is increased on both motors? Will both motors spin at the same RPM still (will they decrease to the same RPM)? Or will one suddenly say, "Uhh, sorry big guy I cant handle all this torque, i'll just spin at 75rpm. I'm not a horse like you and can handle 100rpm at this torque level..."

Lastly, if a motor was running at 100rpm, and another was running at 110rpm -- and there's absolutely no other way to gear it down anymore mechanically, will this pose a problem? Should you adjust this electronically then?

-anton

ps. i wish i could borrow Joe J for a day. cough cough.