NASA Sprockets

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Posted by Dave Lavery.

Engineer on team #116, Aluminum Weasels, from Herndon High School and NASA Headquarters.

Posted on 2/7/2000 11:02 PM MST


In Reply to: Re: It's here posted by Justin Stiltner on 2/7/2000 9:32 PM MST:



We need to be very clear here. NASA does NOT provide sprockets for all of the teams that we sponsor. The teams that are working with NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA, do collaborate together to a certain extent, and have worked out a process where they have some common design elements for their mobility systems. As part of this process, they utilize the machine shop at NASA-Ames to run off several sets of sprockets, which are fabricated from allowable kit materials. These are the sprockets that are being referred to - and they are only distributed to the teams working directly with NASA-Ames, and not the other NASA- (or non-NASA) sponsored teams.

Unfortunately, I am working with the NASA Headquarters team, so they don't send a set to me. Drat.

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Posted by Justin Stiltner.

Student on team #388, Epsilon, from Grundy High School and NASA, American Electric Power, Town of Grundy.

Posted on 2/8/2000 10:37 PM MST


In Reply to: Re: It's here posted by Dave Lavery on 2/7/2000 11:02 PM MST:



Oh ok

Justin Stiltner
Team 388

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Posted by Joe Johnson.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 2/6/2000 6:33 PM MST


In Reply to: Can't find 'the NEW K1' posted by Joe Johnson on 2/6/2000 5:34 PM MST:



Actually, I mis-typed. I meant a New K3.

Actually, I CAN find a New K3 in update #1 but it doesn't really impact ordering custom gears & sprockets:

K3. If a part appears on the Additional Hardware List, it does not need to be
purchased from Small Parts, Inc. (SPI) and does not count against the $425 limit
on parts from SPI.


This doesn't really address ordering non-Off-the-Shelf gears & sprockets.

If NASA made some sprockets from legal kit material (Stuff from Small Parts Inc, Stuff from the green & gray tubs, or stuff from the additional hardware list -- which by the way includes off-the-shelf sprockets, of course), then these would be legal.

Perhaps I am missing something, but I think that this is exactly what I wrote in my original reply to this thread.

By the way, what are these sprockets?

I have often thought that a sprocket with a taped hole in the middle (3/8-24 as I recall) that had a hub thickness that was just a bit wider than the length of the drill shaft would be an excellent thing for many rookie teams. They could just screw the sprocket on the shaft and use a washer and the left handed screw from Bosch Service Parts (Bosch Part Number -- at least as of 1997 when we purchased these screws -- 3603430505) to lock the sprocket to the shaft.

This would probably work well for many teams. There is still the problem of securely mounting the drill housing because this method depends on the drill itself for all the bearings for the drive shaft (not a good idea in my opinion), but this is probably a better method to attach to the drill's output shaft than most rookie teams come up with so how can I complain?

Enough already ;-)

Joe J.