Need some help

[Tristan Lall]

It seems like you're going to be taking a shot at designing your team's next drivetrain. If so, or even if it's only a casual interest, I'd suggest taking a look at these:
Boston Gear "Gearology" (Only chapters 1 to 5 are relevant, and if you're busy, just 1 and 2 would suffice for most applications.)
PIC Design Technical Information (Formulae, calculators and reference, in a web-based form.)
They are relatively heavy reading, but they'll give an excellent overview of how gears themselves work. (It's more complex than one might imagine.)
If you're interested in a book, take a look at:
South, David W. (ed.) & Mancuso, Jon R. (ed.); Mechanical Power Transmission Components; 1994; Marcel Dekker; New York
It's got a rather comprehensive section on gearing (not to mention all sorts of other information). Once again, it's heavy reading, and will be too much to read cover to cover (901 pages!), but if you can get it from the library (mine's borrowed from the University of Waterloo library), chapter 7, "Gear Drives" is worth a look.

Those sources I've quoted will go a very long way in designing an effective geartrain, but you don't need to absorb anywhere near all of it at once. (Though you're encouraged to try... )
As a matter of fact, most teams fly by the seats of their pants in designing a drivetrain--and it usually works well enough. But a little additional knowledge of the basic operation of gearing might just stave off trouble in the long run.
If that leaves you discouraged, you've got the wrong idea. The best way to learn about this stuff is to try it, and give it your best shot: maybe it won't turn out perfectly the first time, but that's fine, you can adapt and improve. (As a matter of fact, my first shot at designing and building a gearbox didn't go completely according to plan...but it did turn out quite nicely in the end.)
-Tristan Lall
Team 188,
Woburn Robotics