pic: Planetary wheel (cutaway)

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

How are you supporting the outer ring with respect to the planet gears and planet carrier? If your outer ring can wobble about the central axis, you're probably going to encounter a lot of uneven tooth wear. You definitely can't rely upon the tooth mesh to support the weight of the robot.

Also, is the 16 tooth gear hardened steel? Because it probably ought to be. (What's the SDP/SI part number?)

Out of curiosity, where does the planet carrier come from?

[FourPenguins]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

How are you supporting the outer ring with respect to the planet gears and planet carrier? If your outer ring can wobble about the central axis, you're probably going to encounter a lot of uneven tooth wear. You definitely can't rely upon the tooth mesh to support the weight of the robot.

Also, is the 16 tooth gear hardened steel? Because it probably ought to be. (What's the SDP/SI part number?)

Materials aren't final, but I believe it was hardened steel.

As for the ring, you'll see there is a ring gear and a circular aluminum ring (2 actually, but only one visible), which is bolted to the ring gear. The aluminum rings are riding on bearings on the planet shafts(those 3 cylinders), which take all of the load of the weight of the robot.

Originally Posted by M. Krass

Out of curiosity, where does the planet carrier come from?

Everything but the gears and bearings would be custom-machined.

Again, odds are this will never be built, I just wanted to see the public reaction. Even if this design does see the light of day, it won't be on MORT '07. (Not my department, I'm end effectors.)

[bear24rw]

Thats crazy ed, post a picture of the whole assembly with the mounting plate.
How much do you estimate it weighs?

looks intense

[FourPenguins]

I posted a new picture here.
Inventor says the weight is around 1.9 pounds (plus CIM and mounting hardware.) I don't trust that number because I haven't double-checked my materials and because it's an inherently rough estimate, but I expect the final to weight in under three pounds, which compares pretty well to the kit gearbox if I remember correctly.