Pulley Size

[Sh1ine]

We have been using 5mm GT2 timing belt and pulleys for the last 3 year with great success, especially the last two years. Our first year we used 9mm wide belts and did not use exact center to center distances and had some skipping issues. The last two years we have used 15mm belt and exact center to center and we have not had to change a belt at all. We have also been using a fairly large pulley (27 teeth) and this year I think that we may want to decrease the pulley size. I am wondering what teams are using timing belt for the drive train successfully and what their set-up is. Specifically Timing Belt width, type, and pulley size.

Thanks!

[AdamHeard]

@Sh1ine

We have been using 5mm GT2 timing belt and pulleys for the last 3 year with great success, especially the last two years. Our first year we used 9mm wide belts and did not use exact center to center distances and had some skipping issues. The last two years we have used 15mm belt and exact center to center and we have not had to change a belt at all. We have also been using a fairly large pulley (27 teeth) and this year I think that we may want to decrease the pulley size. I am wondering what teams are using timing belt for the drive train successfully and what their set-up is. Specifically Timing Belt width, type, and pulley size.

Thanks!

A lot of good discussion in this thread;
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108091

and this google doc (from that thread) has notes from teams;

FRC Timing Belt Drivetrains(old)

[DonRotolo]

I would also highly recommend a phone call or e-mail to Gates. Their engineers really know belts and pulleys. Learn from them.

We have used 15 tooth, but in low-load applications.

[cadandcookies]

We used timing belts in our 2013 season to great success. We used 9mm width GT2 belts on 36t (iirc) pulleys with exact C-C dimensions. Didn’t have to replace belts until after the season was over, and even then, the belt only snapped because our driver was really abusing the robot.