belt tensioning for a spinning weapon

[calumco]

im finialising plans for a feather spinner but im not sure about the best way to tension the drive belt for the weapon.

with my current robots i use belts for the drive and i tension those using a motor bracket that slides to either loosen or tension the belt and then i would then tighten the bolts on the motor bracket to hold it in place, would this work for a drive belt for a weapon???

althought i know it would in theory work (as it does in my current robots), i didn't no whether it would be best to have a spring loaded tensioning system to allow the belt to mabye give a bit if the spinning weapon was suddenly stopped.

any one got any advice?

thanks for now

[typhoon_driver]

If you carefully design and machine something then you shouldn't need tensioners.

If you do then make sure that the tensioner is able to rotate ie a bearing on a bolt (this is what I use on hornet) otherwise your belt will heat up and snap.

I prefer to mount my disc and motor solidly and have the tensioner either spring mounted (can be difficult to machine) or on a sliding channel like you described.

[calumco]

right ok so ill stick to what i already know- a sliding motor bracket then.

thanks for the advice