Custom Gearboxes

[rnewendyke]

We did custom gearboxes on our 2013 west coast drive and were very happy with the results of it. We went about finding our gear ratios by looking at what other teams had done for speeds in the past as well as analyze how our own drive trains had preformed in the past. It looks like a "fast speed" is around 18 feet per second theoretical (free speed * gear ratio * wheel dia in inches * π / ( 12 * 60 ) and low gears usually run ~ 2 - 2.5 times lower that a gearbox's high gear. The highest high gear that I have ever seen was 24 fps theoretical on 3061's machine this year and in talking to them they said that they felt that their high gear was too high because they couldn't accelerate to top speed on the field and they found it difficult to control.

[Arpan]

Originally Posted by rnewendyke

We did an entirely custom gearbox on our 2013 west coast drive and were very happy with the results of it. We went about finding our gear ratios by looking at what other teams had done for speeds in the past as well as analyze how our own drive trains had preformed in the past. It looks like a "fast speed" is around 18 feet per second theoretical (free speed * gear ratio * wheel dia in inches * π / ( 12 * 60 ) and low gears usually run ~ 2 - 2.5 times lower that a gearbox's high gear. The highest high gear that I have ever seen was 24 fps theoretical on 3061's machine this year and in talking to them they said that they felt that their high gear was too high because they couldn't accelerate to top speed on the field and they found it difficult to control.

Yeah, it was far too fast. Our driver couldn't react in time and drove like he was drunk when in high gear.

That said, it was fun to be able to get across the field in just over two seconds when there was nobody in the way.

I wouldn't recommend going higher than 18 theoretical.