Hey i was just wondering if anyone has purchased the book by Dennis Clarke. And also does anyone know any good sites to research different drive trains. Our Mechanical team would like to get a overview of the different types before we actually received our task. We are a rookie team so any help would be awesome thanks
http://www.aecnetwork.com/img-eng/mechanical/robotics/0071408509.jpg
hmm… i’d like to get that where’d you find one?
You can buy it online at Amazon.com
My lead mentor has one. I looked through it for some ideas for my senior project, very good book.
Hey Hey Hey! i just picked it up from the local library. if you would like to use it some time email or pm me and ill let ya get it only if i get it back b4 its due or you could just borrow it your self when i return it. thanks for the outlook of the book!
Google search will tell you a lot about. also www.howstuffworks.com has great sources.
now to the main source. if you really want to give a overview of different types that we use for FIRST… Chiefdelphi’s “whitepapers” section has a few drawings. if you still have questions, dont hesitate to ask me. 
It is one of my favorite robotics books. It has lots of great information for hobby robotics and stuff that can apply to FIRST. My favorite part is the section on wheel encoders it was helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/007141200X/103-6931626-1295046?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=283155
If this book doesn’t have it then it doesn’t exist. It contains every single robot drivetrain available.
We, that is Team 1425, used that book to our advantage last year in designing our drivetrain. I am full of it.
True, we did have that book, and true, I did read it (I was the only one). it was one of the most helpful and informative books I could imagine on such an obscure topic. True, I proposed many workable designs that allowed for power and manuverability, but noooo, my team thought I was nuts (This is nothing new). They opted for a design best suited for the ‘Things Not to Do’ section. The wheelbase was longer than it was wide, and all 4 wheels, all the rubber tires, were chained to the other one on its side. Net result? we could bash the living heck out of anything - as long as it was directly in front or behind us. The thing couldn’t turn worth a darn without overamping the motors. We eventually fixed it with a small castor that jacked the back end up when we wanted it to, but that was not a very good system (we had problems with it slewing around at high speeds, and the castor got a good thrashing when we tried to climb). This year, I will insist that some of the kids that people listen to read it. After all, I’m just on the electrical team. What do I know?
Sparks
PS: I saw it stated above, and I agree: Listen to that book. It has masses of great info and tons of great project ideas.