i've seen that video before, that tank only goes at one speed , the transmission only has 'stop' , 'reverse' and 'forwards'... but you cant argue about how cost effective it is, just using some pulleys and tensioners, with some proper lubrication that transmission could be reliable for a very long t...

also, i would like to add that forwards/backwards movement of a tracked vehicle has no relationship with the friction of the ground, only with the flatness.... but when you are trying to turn the vehicle, the front and rear edges of the tracks will necessarily rub sideways against the ground... it i...

Wow. Just wow. Carmatic, your transmission is a work of art! In your first description you had a large gear moving at 1/2c. What is it for? Why not drive the annulus directly from the cvt and the sun from the pedals? Also, can you explain the variables in the equasion a bit more? And finally, is th...

Heya Carmatic, you're amazing, I like the way you think in gears! (wish I could grasp it all as easy) The 41pitch chain is excellent to work into bikepart/drivetrain setups because it has the same 1/2" pitch as standard single-speed (bmx, cruiser) chain. Its a bit wider but you can work around that...

One of my campmates ate MREs (he's in the military) exclusively, and none of us envied him. :? Even he said, about the refried beans, "This is not something I would want to eat in a combat situation." yeah, from what i've gathered online, MRE's are more fit for disaster zones than festivals ... doe...

i almost blinded myself just now , was sipping a drink with a straw, held it too close to my face, tried to look down and almost shoved the straw into my eye... missed by a fraction of a fraction of an inch its a good thing nothing went wrong with the guy wire setup that was used at burning man last...

a search for 'guy wire' brings up some pretty specific results
examples:
outdoor store
weather station supplies
antenna dealer

let me share with you , the video which made me aware of the existence of Burning Man... i would not have known about it if it wasnt for this video

[youtube][/youtube]

isnt the proper term for it called 'guyed' ?

like the wires holding it straight would be called 'guy wires'

question to the builders....

im trying to work out the chains and sprockets for my setup

i am thinking of http://shakyparts.com/high_strength_alu ... ckets.html , availale in 35 and 41 pitch.... are there bicycle cranksets which work in that size?

i wouldve thought that someone somewhere runs a hardware shop which has a corner full of rotating joints , where you could pick up and play with different bearings and bushings and stuff... that would be quite fantastic, i would think...

these pedal powered 4 wheel vehicles are interesting... they remind me of

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06 ... icycle.php

not sure when you will be able to actually buy one of them! and theyre only single seaters...

i also suggest the plastic bushings for cost concerns... here's an interesting idea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_lubricant ... i wonder what combination of plastic and playa dust will work? ::edit:: well to sound abit more serious, i think that dry lubrication would fill the tiny seam between y...

You may want to look at theatrical scrim too. http://www.studio-productions-inc.com/white_papers/wp_scrim_effects.html http://www.studio-productions-inc.com/set_home.html wouldnt that only work if like, the truck was painted matte-black? you dont want light hitting the truck to reflect back out of ...

lol@ the ice leds ... best thing i've seen today yes, those are emachineshop prices... but there is no point physically fabricating the parts until i can make sense of what they will be attaching to... there are places to get custom gears and sprockets done, so i think that i will make everything co...

ok here we go a rough idea of the partial parts list http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/8905/outdrive.png The planet carrier... this is the part which has to be custom fabricated, its represented by the red square in my diagrams.... it is basically the centerpiece of my transmission a pair of these ...

I think your post was better before you edited. I thought you had some interesting ideas. sorry, but when i edit my posts, it is for a reason... heck i cant even remember what i edited my post for, i thought it was for a spelling mistake, or to rephrase something to make it clearer... what was it a...

i feel that my posts might have been somewhat inaccessible to you guys... so i hope that i can clear some things up, and try to do a post that's slightly more enjoyable to read consider this diagram: http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/6580/planetgearbasics.png what you have is a round thing rolling ...

hey man chill out, why dont you try to have a good old bit of fun? in the spirit of winter, i shall post this video [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzcHS7QgjtA[/youtube] old gamers (and people who use abit of intuition) would know that song came from an ice-based level, hence it is appropria...

picture that the gears physically exist, floating in the space before your eyes....

start with the bottom-most gear, then add the next one, then the one after that and so on, and work your way towards the entire diagram

seeing Elliot's chain-on-chain CVT setup, it made me think that its possible to greatly simplify the transmission while still providing the full range of maneuverability and the 'geared neutral' ability http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1678/chainsd.png the colour scheme is still the same... cyan are...

that's quite neat...

i guess its useful for keeping food warm, too, if those bulbs give off enough infrared...

the added weight would not matter if you could gear down infinitely... this would be something like NASA's space shuttle transporter, 2mph unloaded, 1mph carrying its load .... slow, but gets the job done... as long as you have enough power to overcome the internal resistance of the transmission , w...

With a revolving turret, its a tank. Armored Personell Vehicle is almost the same. Same propulsion. Tank is just a prettier name. Artistry in excess the thing is, just like a license to drive a car isnt a license to drive an 18 wheeler, a tank might require different training than an APC... the dev...

Why did they make tanks so difficult? You for hire, when I hit the lotto? as i understand it, Oldguy drove an armoured personnel carrier, not a tank.. but maybe the skills are transferrable? also, real tank transmissions are far more complex than what i've brought up here... fluid coupling, stage a...

I remember driving a M113 armored personell carrier in the army, where each track not only had its own accelerator but its own brake. We could also stop the machine, put one track in reverse: and then accelerate in a spin in the same spot. A nice tactic if you didn't want to be shot in the ass, whe...

TomServo wrote:
I've thought about pedal pwered tracks. Can you gear each track? A skid steer would seem a bit much for such little horsepower.

you can gear any rotating mechanism... you will get smoother steering with CVT's, tho

steering can be made easier if your vehicle is wider

and oh, seeing that it's Xmas today ( +0800 GMT , yes i live very far away ), here's a picture of a suspension system i've thought up, drawn with particularly Xmassy colours http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/3553/weightshifting.png the blue things are levers, and the small orangey circles are pivot...

oops , yeah, series... i blame the lack of sleep

and dont mind my last post, i also blame that on the lack of sleep... sigh i'm only human after all... cant have people spending all that time, energy and money putting together something just to find that it wont work

::edited::