Gear Strip Issues

[Joe Johnson]

From an e-mail sent between some FIRST VEX teams:

Coach Paul:

Just a quick note of caution. We (Team 79) have worked with the Robovation product extensively over the past few years and have built several robots. In building for the VEX challenge we have discovered that some of the plastic parts may not be up to the same standards we found with the Innovation First material.
For example, we have found the square hole for the axle shaft in the "lock plate" is not capable of withstanding the transfer load of lifting an arm. We have attempted to circumvent this problem by "marrying" two of the gears together in our "transmission assembly" only to have another gear center go from square to round.
These comments are meant to be advisory only as we firmly believe in the product and the project. Just be cautious in how you build your arm for lifting. It has changed our thought process entirely, which is not a bad thing.

My reply to Coach Paul:

Whoa!... ...did you notice that the 60T gear has holes that can mount to an arm? I think this will be much stronger method to transfer torque to an arm than via the square shaft and a lock bar. Thoughts?

Coach Paul:

We absolutely noticed the holes on the 60T gear and "married" two of them together only to have another gear in the assemble strip out in the center.

TJ Now adds:

Hey all,

This is TJ from team -Stickshift FRV 51- (First 1688) . We actuall went
ahead and braced those gears with and black lock plate supplied with the
kit. The lock plate is a small plate with 3 holes, of which the two ends
mate with the holes pre drilled in the larger diameter gears. The center
hole is a circular steel piece with a square cutout for the axle shaft. The
larger diameter gears are pre drilled for these, but the smaller ones can
also be modified to work....I think the bit size was 3/16th...but don't
quote me.

Interesting information.

Hope it helps folks.

Joe J.