pic: 114 is thinking of what?!

I really, really don't want this to turn into one of the other 50 threads on CD about surface area v. traction. So please, let's focus on a gearbox, not on a debate that's raging elsewhere.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by 114ManualLabor

I really, really don't want this to turn into one of the other 50 threads on CD about surface area v. traction. So please, let's focus on a gearbox, not on a debate that's raging elsewhere.

I think it's an important distinction here...If you design a mechanism based on an assumption, you may end up finding out later that you didn't need 6 motors, and could have saved time, weight, and effort by just using 4, for example.

It's my personal opinion that 6 motor drives have a very small niche, and are almost never a better choice than 4 motors. The only reason I would ever use 6 motors is if I was making a single speed drivetrain and wanted to keep my speed high, while still having some torque (and I probably wouldn't, even then).

$0.02

[maclaren]

Originally Posted by 114ManualLabor

I really, really don't want this to turn into one of the other 50 threads on CD about surface area v. traction. So please, let's focus on a gearbox, not on a debate that's raging elsewhere.

Sorry that was not my intention. I also desipse when that happens to one of my threads.

How much does the transmission weigh(with motors)?

I tend to agree with cory about adding another motor. I'm not sure that you will get a significant return on the investment of weight.

It would be pretty cool though to have some more power to apply to the tracks.

Originally Posted by maclaren

Sorry that was not my intention. I also desipse when that happens to one of my threads.

How much does the transmission weigh(with motors)?

I tend to agree with cory about adding another motor. I'm not sure that you will get a significant return on the investment of weight.

It would be pretty cool though to have some more power to apply to the tracks.

Oh, no worries. With motors, I recall something around 10 (I don't actually have the CAD right now). Plus, if you're building tank tracks, your primary focus is probably defense, so you might as well put as much power to the ground as you can get.

I'm hoping people will comment here, as this thread has the more updated version of this on it's intended mechanism.

[popo308]

We had a big problem with the FP over heating and burning out so we put a victor fan at the end of it and it works fine now and really doesn't heat up at all.

[pakratt1991]

Last year we used the track system that is modeled, our tracks NEVER slipped against the carpet, we have even pulled a van while I sat down in front of the robot, video is on google video. I never saw our track slip so the extra power might actually be helpful.

[AdamHeard]

Cory has a good point in that in this case the 6 motors are pretty unnecessary. The only advantage I can think of is less load per motor, but that's never really been an issue when using two small CIMs.