pic: 303 Prototype Sheet Metal Drivebase

[TylerS]

Originally Posted by lynca

Can you show an image of your geartrain and provide details on what gears/ratio you are using ?

The shifters are just WCP 3 cim dog shifters, we haven't decided on the ratio with that yet. The gears in the drive modules are all the same so it's just 1:1.

Originally Posted by Taylor

This looks really robust and cool. I especially like the aesthetics of the gears.
A few questions I have:
How do you intend to incorporate bumpers into this design?
Is the bellypan aluminum as well? If so, how will you mitigate electronic component isolation issues?
Why did you make the right-left sides congruent rather than mirror images?
What issues did you have with belts that led to your dislike?

Thanks! Honestly thought I'd get a lot more criticism for the design then I have so far.

We are thinking of using one piece bumpers that are attached with thumb screws to the front and back. That idea hasn't been fully flushed out or CADed yet so it's subject to change.

Yes it's aluminum, all of the control system parts are electrically isolated themselves if we don't have issues with shorts in our testing in the pre-season we probably won't do anything special to isolate them.

Not sure what you mean by congruent vs. mirror image.

We have had issues with tensioning in the past and rarely belt snaps. We figured if we could sacrifice the weight then we might as well do away with them.

Originally Posted by roystur44

Looks good,

Exposing a portion of wheels on the front/back will allow the drive train to climb a obstacle better. Consider a angled bottom front and aft.

A staggered perf pattern allows for more weight reduction and will help prevent oil canning.

Definitely going to do this with this design at some point. Optimally I'd like it to be able to support wheels up to 6in in diameter.

Something else that will be done

Originally Posted by cbale2000

Without seeing an image of the gears more exposed it's difficult to give a good review of the system overall. Just looking at what is visible though it looks like the system would certainly run.

I am curious about a few things:

1. What size gears are used on the wheels and idlers?
2. What is the distance, center to center, between the wheels?
3. Are the wheels on a flat plane or angled?
4. What type of gears do you plan on using (Vexpro? AndyMark? Steel? Aluminum?)
5. What are the overall frame dimensions
6. How wide are the drive modules?

40t

Not sure off the top of my head, will have to check the CAD tonight

Center two wheels are dropped 1/8in since we have had success with that drop using 6 wheels

Vexpro 40t aluminum with the hex bore.

Dimension wise all I can remember off the top of my head is that the perimeter comes out to 111.2in