confuzzling gear ratio definition.. wanna clear this one up?

[archiver]

Posted by Anton Abaya at 1/18/2001 11:04 PM EST


Coach on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NASA, Mathsoft, Solidworks.



hehe, this is a rather stupid question that seems to confuse everyone I've asked.

When I say my robot last year drill gear ratio of 2:1, the input is 2 rotations of the motor, and an output of 1 rotation of the wheel. is this correct ?

i checked a physics book and that's how they did it. So the example above is GEARING DOWN.

From what I can tell, you would ALMOST ALWAYS want to gear down from the drill motors and would NEVER gear up because the drills are spinning really fast. What needs to be adjusted is HOW MUCH you GEAR DOWN and the ratio of that.

Am I correct in my logic? Feel free to correct me because everytime I talk to someone else, i get either the same logic, or the exact opposite.

Funny thing is I've asked perhaps 14 people and it's split in half..... wanna clear up this one once and for all Joe?

-anton

ps. i'm a cs student...why should i care? perhaps because i'm a ninny with a power tool...yeah thats it.