Charlie Suangka talks gear mesh and how to get it right

 

Team Novak tech guru and LiveRC guest announcer, Charlie Suangka, has sat down and written up an article of his own concerning the importance of setting your gear mesh, and how to go about doing it right!
 

  

Courtesy of www.teamnovak.com 

 

The motor's pinion gear, and the vehicle's spur gear do a tremendous amount of work, and are constantly hammering on each other. Without the correct amount of backlash in your gears, the end bell bearing of the motor will quickly be damaged.

The Fit is Important
If the gears are too tight (close together), or even too loose (not close enough), the jack hammering of the teeth against each other applies directly to the bearing of your motor. Bearings are not at all designed for these kinds of loads and will fail very quickly. It is important to have the correct gear mesh for the best performance and longevity.

Avoid Rocks and Debris
Pick up a rock in your spur, chip a spur gear tooth, damage a pinion gear slightly and try to re-use it? These are all situations that can damage your motor bearings in less then a minute of usage.

In very rough conditions it is not uncommon to pick up a rock in the spur, drive the car back to yourself, and find later that your motor bearing is also damaged. There is "no give" in the gear train of your vehicle, so the bearing is always the first to be damaged. When a motor bearing is damaged, it will rob power from the motor, create heat, will reduce the performance of the motor, and reduce runtime.

Steps to Get the Right Gear Mesh
So how do you make sure your gear mesh is right? Follows these steps:

• LOOK. Look at the spur gear. If the teeth are mis-shaped in anyway, replace it. Same for the pinion gear. Any damage, or sharpening, of the teeth, means the gears need to be replaced. Don't run them again!
• LISTEN. When you set gear mesh you want a very small amount of "click" between the gears. You will want the smallest amount of movement possible, but still have movement.
• RUN. With the car in the air, slowly modulate the throttle up and down. Listen to the gears. Loosen or tighten the mesh slightly and slowly run the vehicle again. You are looking for the gear mesh's "sweet spot of silence". The less noise the spur and pinion make, the less wear and tear you are putting on them. Loud gears are bad. Very bad. Clearly, they will make some noise, but you will quickly learn what is a "good noise" and a "bad noise". The quiet spot in the mesh is what you are looking for.
• CHECK. Check the mesh repeatedly for loose and tight spots. It is common for spur gears to be slightly out of round, or drive trains to not align perfectly. Correcting these issues will prolong the life of your gears and motor bearings. If you have to have a loose mesh to make the noises go away, you probably have a problem with one or both of the gears and need to correct the size of either the spur or pinion gear to get the mesh right.

Take your time on gear mesh, it is as important as anything else in your vehicle, and will damage your motor bearings constantly if not set properly.

  

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