The perfect gearbox

[Veselin Kolev]

I like my drive train this year. 7 fps low, 14 fps high. Torque and speed, and a nice 6 lbs flat with the shift piston and motors included. The CIM and FP give a good bit of power. Construction out of 1/4" aluminum plate with pressed plain bearings, 1/2" OD threaded aluminum spacers, hardened allen head cap screws, and a very narrow, large OD dog shifter. Makes for a very small (1.75" wide), very light transmission.

Personally I would always stick to 2 speed dog shifter made of 1/4" plate. It is a very solid base to work off, and my teams have had lots of experience with this kind of transmission. Of course we always work for new advancements every year, but this is our sure proof drive train.

NOTE: New features of this year's transmission are: quick 4 bolt face mounting, pneumatics mounted directly on the transmission (as opposed to chassis mounted), larger diameter dog (1.375"), narrower transmission (by 1/4"), more efficient (can anyone say 'valve grinding compound'?). Not a whole lot, but sure makes maintaining it a lot better.

[nuggetsyl]

may i sugest using a gear drive train. I think it might have a chance of working well for you

shaun

[Gdeaver]

I always liked the ball shift gear box that team 222 uses. Never liked the idea of smashing gear teeth together.

[team222badbrad]

Originally Posted by Gdeaver

I always liked the ball shift gear box that team 222 uses. Never liked the idea of smashing gear teeth together.

Thanks, we built another one this year and its better than ever!

We have not released our 2006 transmissions yet, so here is a sneak peek, but I think we came close to what this thread is asking!

They are smaller than the KOP transmissions, have two speeds, easily changeable gear ratios, can use one or two CIMS per transmission, and they weigh less than the KOP transmissions.

See them at VCU!

[Veselin Kolev]

As some have requested, here are some pics of the 2006 HRT Team 1072 drivetrain I described earlier.

[lukevanoort]

I have a few dream 'boxes for different purposes.

General use: A two speed dog (Woburn style) with aluminum gears (more on these later) and a polycarb/aluminum shell. Now to explain my odd materials choices, the polycarb would be ultra thin, whereas the aluminum would be beefy. Now the aluminum would make a crisscross structure supporting only the high load points (eg the bearing mounts) and forces (eg the mounting holes) on the gearbox. The polycarb would mostly to keep garbage out, it could even be saran-wrap. The aluminum gears wouldn't be strong enough especially considering they'd be milled for lightness, except for some tricky chemistry. Drop them in a vacuum chamber with H2 (hydrogen) and CH4 (methane) at 50 Torr, add heat and voila! diamond coating. Or you could just pay a company to do it, whatever.

Insane use: A Thunderchicken CCT with the aforementioned polycarb/aluminum structure and lightened diamond plated aluminum gears. It would be driven by the bike chip, and two small chips with the FP providing the ratio control function.

Insane use 2: This box also uses polycarb/aluminum/diamond coating construction. It uses a ball bearing shifter with three planetary gear selections. It is powered by the bike chip, two small chips, and the FP (maybe a Globe and window motor too!) Bring on the twelve motor drive!

Absolutely Insane use: Okay, time for my nuttiest idea yet. There is a central gearbox that matches ratios between all the motors in the kit (except that crummy Mabuchi motor) to, say 500 rpm. There are then two separate sets of CVT v-belt assemblies. These allow for the speed on one side to be reduced to, say 50 rpm, with the other side doing 300 rpm allowing for skid steer turning. This could also have four CVT assemblies for holonomic. Yay! as many motor as you have drive!

It's times like this when I wish we had more money and machining capability.