Banebot 56mm gearbox - double D related

[Rich Kressly]

Originally Posted by haroony341

team 2234 at Episcopal Academy had originally planned to use Banebot's dual CIM gearbox attached to the 56mm planetary gearbox but we no decided to scrap the idea, and go with AndyMark's dual speed transmission. more than just the double-D connection, the larger sized gears in the planetary box were worn down almost instantly. we had only done a few tests with no load at all and the gearbox just locked up. we found that the one of the gear's tooth was bent. we chipped it off as a temporary solution. but a few days later, after just one failed load test, it locked up instantly, and each of the gears had something wrong with it.

hopefully we'll have better luck with the new transmissions

I happened to be there to witness this one myself. I stopped in to visit 2234 to discuss shipping and a few other things with them, but instead I found a group of rookies huddled around a frozen gearbox after nearly no-load testing. Here you have a rookie that's done its homework, has an experience FIRSTer working with them and spent more than three days trying to get something to work that was listed as a "proven solution" in the tips and best practices guide. I saw the bent planet teeth myself that were hitting the mounting hole housings between stages and I also saw a central gear move laterally about 1/8" during a bench test. Mind you when the team first got these items they spent time filing burrs off of gears just to get it all to run the first time. I'm concerned that some of this product may also be pushing the limit of acceptable tolerances.

I'm not trying to bash anyone, and I'm very glad Dr. Joe is working so hard on this. I'm sure his work will prove to be a huge benefit down the road. But, standing there with this crew, what they didn't have was time and neither an experienced mentor from another veteran team or myself could guarantee that it would run well even if they supported the shaft better, and had plates to sure up both sides of the box (which another team would have had to make for them), and they found a way to offer more motor support.

I know everyone involved is working hard on a solution and I understand that new vendors are important for a lot of reasons. However, as a rookie team mentor last year all I can say is that I'm so glad that the kit gearbox we had in 2006 was so robust. I'm equally thrilled right now with my team's decision to go with AM single speeds.

Right now, headed into week 4, teams need to know they'll run reliably and right now, in my way of thinking, that means using another product if a team can afford it.

However, I eagerly await Joe's final word and banebots' ultimate fix for these issues. Yet, the fruits of this labor will probably need to wait until next year for many teams. The clock is ticking and unfortunately it looks like teams will have to dig into their pockets this year for something they thought was already in the kit.

I'm trying to be kind here, but I'm concerned for many teams.