pic: Team 4499's off season gearbox

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Michael 4499

The top shaft was an interesting one to constrain. Currently, the reasoning for the middle constraint is because there is an e-clip on the other side of the bearing. This is because we are planning on mounting an encoder on the other end of the shaft. If you have any other ways to eliminate that middle support we are welcome to new ideas.

The bottom shaft is actually 2 separate shafts where one ends in the plate just before the tube and the other one starts in the plate inside the tube.

I completely agree with your last suggestion, we are working on it.

Thanks for the response!

Putting an E-clip between loads on a shaft is often a dangerous idea. It weakens the shaft substantially when something like a spacer could do the same job. I would just use a spacer between the two gears (that goes through where the bearing is currently located) and then put your encoder on one of the outer ends of that shaft.