In the spirit of Gracious Professionalism, I give you: My MultiDrive.

[Jnadke]

It's nice to see that you were able to create your own design, I give you an "A" for effort.

A few things to consider though. Namely structural stability of the module and gear alignment. Your housing design doesn't allow very much room (thickness) for bearings and stability. It looks like your drive shaft is only supported by a single bearing, which is a bad thing when dealing with bevel gears. Between turning and taking hits, that module won't last very long... You might want a uniform construction for the module frame rather than separate aluminum plates.

A simple search for "crab module" would yield the design the Thunderchickens used last year:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=20242

You might be able to learn from thier implementation if you look hard enough. Things are completely different when going from design to reality.

Originally posted by Sachiel7
I'm afraid that some of the (mentors!) on my team are already coming up with ways to "Shoot down" my idea, and I haven't even gotten it fully out yet!

I doubt the mentors are trying to "shoot down" your idea. There are any number of reasons why it may not be best to go with your particular design, such as complexity, stability, and construction (including tools and materials available to construct it). Simply said, you need to refine it to meet your teams abilities and to make it reliable.

Take a look at the Thunderchicken's design. The housing is uniformly made from a single block of aluminum, from the looks of it (which adds a lot of strength & stability), which implies that they have advanced milling capabilities. They addressed the issues of how to keep the bearings and sprockets in place. Lastly, they addressed issues of the most critical component, which is supporting the module. These refinements are what make it a successful design.

Don't rely on others not to critisize your design. A successful design leaves no room to be critisized.