Variable Speed Gearboxes?

[Cothron Theiss]

I actually spent about a month of my life obsessing over this exact idea. And aside from the CAD practice I got from it, it was mostly a waste of time. You run into a whole host of issues as your cone gear transitions from one tooth count to the next, you have all sorts of issues with the tooth spacing and the gear mesh. You are extremely liable to both bind the gearset or just rip teeth off. Also, the transitions between speeds is very rough.

If you want to PM me, I can tell you more about what I tried and how I eventually decided it was a futile project. I might even still have my CAD files, but I'm not sure about that. If you want to look into CVTs for FRC, I'd suggest you look at CVTs for 4-wheelers or Gators. I've been meaning to design a CVT of that style for FRC purposes but just haven't gotten around to it.

I'm also still hopeful that there is a way to make a geared CVT, a CVT that doesn't rely on friction to operate. And I've got a few ideas on that subject, but I'm pretty convinced that a cone gear or a spiral gear isn't the way to do it.