pic: 2012 frc971 transmission

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

Damp- would you mind sharing your W.O.T.? I'm just curious to see what metrics you value versus my own.

-Brando

Sure thing. I've always designed belt setups just like chain, with a tensioner/sliding endpoint, so this effected my WOT:


Category Weight Chain Belt
Availability: 4 4/16 3/12
Weight: 4 3/12 4/16
Manufac.
Speed: 3 4/12 4/12
Total: 11/40 11/40

The thread I was referring to in terms of efficiency can be found here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76964&highlight=belt+chain+effici ency. I believe their methods were quite scientific and methodical, and they concluded that belt was 6% "faster" then chain over a given distance.

6% used to seem small compared to the difficulty of obtaining belts that can only be used for one application. I suppose that not having to do sliding tensioning blocks would be a plus for chain, but I'm really not that sure. Although teams certainly have been successful with it, center distance design with belt or chain has always seemed like a technique that could tend to cause problems when you actually try to put it together.