White Paper Discuss: Team 188 Woburn Robotics 2004 Gearbox Design Report

[CD47-Bot]

Thread created automatically to discuss a document in the White Papers.

Team 188 Woburn Robotics 2004 Gearbox Design Report by Tristan Lall

[Tristan Lall]

I've noticed some renewed interest in gearboxes lately, especially the multi-motor variety. With that in mind, this is a copy of my 1A (first-year, first-co-op-term) work report, written as a requirement for a co-op work term in the mechanical engineering program at the University of Waterloo. In it, I describe my design for the 2004 robot's six-motor, two-speed drivetrain that was used successfully by Woburn Robotics (team 188) during the competition season.

Please note that, while lengthy, this report wasn't intended to guide a team through all the ins and outs of building the gearboxes it describes--rather, it was intended for an academic audience (a co-op program co-ordinator), so it discusses the design process and illustrates it with several drawings and diagrams. Even so, I hope it's helpful; I welcome comments, questions and even criticism, constructive or otherwise....

[JVN]

Tristan,
Read the report. Thank you for your acknowledgement.
Glad you found some use for my whitepaper.

Good Luck in 2005,
John

[Swampdude]

Wow, nice!

[hurtzmyhead]

It appears as if the link to the autocad file is no longer valid... could it be posted again? thanks

[Tristan Lall]

I don't believe that I used AutoCAD at all for this, so I'm not sure which file you mean.

Do you mean the Pro/ENGINEER CAD files? I have those, and can arrange to post them or send them, if you'd like. Actually, I've also got a design for an uprated version of this gearbox (that we never built). It's pretty much the same, but with small improvements to make it more durable, lighter and more maintainable. Let me know if you can use that data.

One other thing: in addition to a CIM FR801-001, this gearbox was designed to use the Bosch/Scintilla 3360 drill motor that was in the 2003 and 2004 FRC kits, and the Fisher-Price/Johnson BP03027 motor from the 2004 kit. Gear ratios, pitches and positions are selected to work around those two old motors, and as a result, even though the design will probably work with current hardware, it's not going to be optimal.