Drill Motor Transmission

[Gary Bonner]

We had a few problems with our drill transmissions at the Philly regional, which was the first time we gave them a real workout. Fortunately, most were on Thursday, but one happened during the semifinals leaving us unable to steer.

The first problem was with the shifter clips popping out and was easily remedied. The second problem, I think, was caused by the clutch housing separating or shifting slightly away from the gearbox housing and causing the clutch to disengage. At the time, in the rush of the competition, we merely swapped the transmissions for new ones. We figured the little tabs that hold the housings together had broken off. After looking over some of the parts back home, I’m now wondering if the clutch housing just rotated, since it provides all the torque keeping the last ring gear from rotating. (I can’t picture right now whether the mounting hardware grips the clutch housing; we’re using the FIRST provided mounting assembly) If this is the case, then the problem should only occur when running in low (which we do), since the shift ring prevents the clutch housing from rotating when in high.

I was wondering how many teams have had this problem, and if you were running in high.

Thanks

[Patrick Wang]

The Shifter Clips came out twice on us before we realized what was going on. Make sure you secure your shifter clips no matter where you are.

We are running in low, the seperation of the gearbox is caused by improper reassembly. It only goes together correctly one way to my knowledge.

[Adam Y.]

We are running in low, the seperation of the gearbox is caused by improper reassembly. It only goes together correctly one way to my knowledge.

There is a way to put the gearbox together so that the motor actually turns a little bit while switching from backwards to fowards. It has to do with the way the holes in the motors attach to the gear box pins.

[tonyargote]

Never Underestimate the power of zip ties!

[Adam Y.]

Never Underestimate the power of zip ties!

Heheh three zip ties held our motors transmission together.

[David Lantz]

Originally posted by tonyargote
Never Underestimate the power of zip ties!

Amen to that. We had some similar problems before competition, but we fixed everything before we shipped.

[Caleb Fulton]

We encountered both of those problems during Midwest, along with several OTHER drivetrain problems...

I don't really see any reason for using the drill tranny in the future...

[Adam Y.]

I don't really see any reason for using the drill tranny in the future...

Those drill trannys are very very useful and fairly reliable. Though our team had only one problem it only took five minutes to fix. Can you explain your problems in a little bit more depth?

The first problem was with the shifter clips popping out and was easily remedied. The second problem, I think, was caused by the clutch housing separating or shifting slightly away from the gearbox housing and causing the clutch to disengage. At the time, in the rush of the competition, we merely swapped the transmissions for new ones. We figured the little tabs that hold the housings together had broken off. After looking over some of the parts back home, I’m now wondering if the clutch housing just rotated, since it provides all the torque keeping the last ring gear from rotating. (I can’t picture right now whether the mounting hardware grips the clutch housing; we’re using the FIRST provided mounting assembly) If this is the case, then the problem should only occur when running in low (which we do), since the shift ring prevents the clutch housing from rotating when in high.

It sounds like your describing what happened to our team's robot but it wasn't the drill transmission that was causing it. It was the fact that the drill motors did not mesh together correctly.

[Caleb Fulton]

It's just that a small, solid (all metal) gearbox seems more reliable to me, as I've seen most of the veteran teams go that route. The plastic mounts were incapable of holding the transmission together for us, that's all...

[Adam Y.]

It's just that a small, solid (all metal) gearbox seems more reliable to me, as I've seen most of the veteran teams go that route. The plastic mounts were incapable of holding the transmission together for us, that's all...

Yeah I found the plastic mounts a bit soft. My friend over tightened the bolt mounts and it deformed the plastic. On the other hand I have heard good things about that plastic in the robot combat community. Of course they have said that it really is not good to use in a gearbox. Then again our team has not really had much trouble with them.

[mtrawls]

Team 122 had transmission problems at Philly also. At first we noticed that our gear change for some reason stopped reliably locking us in one gear or the other. But once we locked ourselves in high gear with zip ties we had problems turning as well. We took one motor apart and replaced it with a spare (didn't have time to do the other one before the next practice match). Still had problems. But when we got both motors replaced with spare parts and worked on the transmission it started working for us. It gave us a little scare on Thursday, but at least we were ready for Friday!

[sean_killey]

our team has had to switch out modify and epoxy NINE drill transmissions! and its kinda hard to drive your robot effecttivly in the semi-finals with one (maybe both) blown out.... but thats what four rounds in a short period of time does

but 5 min epoxy works ALOT better than zip-ties.... and epoxy AND zip-ties works better than both

[Kevin A]

Hello,

This year i have become way to familiar with the drill transmisions.

They shift clips come out all the time and the clutch comes off the reduction assembly. So we used hose clamps to keep the shift clips in and we welded the two clutch disks together. We then take off the whole black clutch ring, the spring, and the pressure pins. The black clutch ring is the on that you turn to adjust the clutch setting, and it just screws off.

We welded the clutch because it causes the transmisson to split in half at the twist joint. All the pressure to keep the clutch fom slipping goes through the twist joint, and we think thats the point of failular.

Another thing we've discovered is that the teams using the kit provided helical-gear gearboxes are the ones having problems. So we have concluded that the transmission is backing the pressure (the saft is pushing on it) and that helps the transmission to split.

Team 481 will be at the nationals, and we are more that willing to help you with all your problems (robot related, that is)

Kevin Antaki
Team 481

IM Me: xpalendocious

[ZACH P.]

Yeah, we popped out both of the retainer clips of our one tranny, and we lost two matches before we realized why, because it would engage temporarily and so we thought it was a battery or electronics problem. In the end, a very nice engineer from the LEGO maniacs, team 96 I belive, came over and helped us, we wound up taking one from the other motor and then used pipe clamps on the two of them.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Of all the teams that have posted here, how many did not remove the shaft locking devices? The drill transmission is pretty well designed and coupled to the First drive train should not get anyone into real trouble. I have found that many teams miss a few simple things when assembling the drive system.
You need to remove the locking pawls, the alignment of the helical gears directly affects the friction reflected to the motor/transmission, drive shafts need to be supported at both ends with aligned bearings, and, as most of you have stated, some positive locking arrangement needs to be made to hold in the shifter clips.
Please let me know if any of these apply to you.