Friction Drives

I am trying to repair the friction drive on my featherweight (Cylon built by Froggy). This seems to just have work out over time, so no big deal really.

The drive part is fitted to the shaft of a 24V gold motor and needs to be about 3mm thick (over the 8mm shaft).

I have tried a few things such as water pipe, packing out the existing rubber bushes etc. Seems to last a few minutes before wearing out.

Anyone any ideas for something a bit more durable. I had thought about nicking some out of an anti vibration mount but the one i have kicking around are too large and would need the bush to be cut to get it off.

Regards

Andy

change the drive for a non friction drive?

HAHAHA,

I had thought of that.

The problem is that without quite a bit of modification it wouldnt fit.

I would prefer to do a quick fix and then think about doing some long term planning and decide whether to keep it as is and build summat else or whether to modify it.

For the time being its the friction drive. It works really well when it works. It just has a tendancy for catastrophic failures which happen in the space of a second.

Andy

I have found in the past that generally quick fixes cause more problems in the long run than actually fixing any problems. Spend the time planning now and you will save a lot in the long run.

Fully agree Gary. That said there are different types of quick fixes.

This is a quick fix which replaces consumable parts of a fully viable working robot which has already successfully competed.

That is very different to slapping a bit of tape round it, hitting it with a hammer and hoping for the best.

Andy

In all my years of building these machines, I have NEVER seen a sucsessful/reliable friction drive, possibly with the exeption of weapons drive on a couple of serious American spinners. (F-Bomb, being a case in point)
Believe me, there is no substitute for a well designed and engineered transmision using spur/planetery gears, chains & sprockets or belts & pullies, or a combination of some or all of the above.

For feathers, I had forages in the past with rebuilded , aliminium encased batterydrill planetaries.
Currently I do spur gear drives. Single or double stage, combined with common RC motors.

I would be surprised if the current setup cant be succesfully converted to a single stage geardrive.

Seem to have got this sorted to a degree. Just cut up some old gas pipe and glued it to the shaft of the motors.

One side fine after a minute, other side knackered. Seem it slipped along the shaft and lost contact with the wheel meaning it burnt out. Simple fix just needs a decent stop on it to stop it slipping.

I think in the long term Id rather convert it to a geared drive. (unless anyne can tell me why when i see a fresh blob of glue from the glue gun I always seem to stick my finger in it!!)

Andy