Drivetrain, what did you use?

[SiliconKnight]

Team 824

Second year team

We attempted to manufacture our own gearbox. Shifter was taken off to make manufacturing schedule. All parts were student made - reliablity was good with 1 motor, but under 2 motor loads, reliabilty was a problem. (it exploded on the field at our very last match at PNW).

* Tank drive robot
* 2 "drive pods" modular drive system, on and off the robot very quickly.
* Optical encoders on driven wheel.
* Custom made aluminum wheels - attach just like a car's wheel with a wheel flange. Started out as a track system but the tracks kept falling off.
* Each pod contain 1 chip, 1 drill motor. There is a matching stage where the free spin RPMs are matched, then the output of that goes through the drill reduction box. Custom outtake shaft then drives the wheels.

Problems we encountered:

* Failure to account for the side load on the helical gear
* Bad construction quality on some of the press fits.
* Failure to calculate in the backlash - I used theoratical spacing for all the gears - that was a BAD mistake.
* Lack of tools and trained personnel (no one could weld, didn't have a knurling tool for press fits, no CNC trained operator to cut the bearing pockets, etc.

-=- Terence