pic: 222 3 speed closeup/cutaway

[jskene]

Thank you for the clarification.
From what you are saying, am I to imply that you use pneumatics to control the balls? (you wrote: The ball bearings remain in the shaft until the air inside shaft pushes the balls out and locks the gear.) Henry seemed to indicate that there was a central rod in the axle that slid back and forth, and somehow pushed the balls out.

Did you use a water jet to cut the slots in the gears?

[team222badbrad]

Sorry for the typo...

I ment to say that the rod is used to push the ball bearings inside the slots in the gears. The air cylinder moves the rod between high and low and a 2nd cylinder wedges it in 2nd gear.

We made the slots in the gears using a manual mill. Most parts were made by hand and the side plates were done on a brand new CNC.

[MikeDubreuil]

Very cool, I think I might even understand how it works. Thanks for the explanation.