My team was thinking of building a flywheel with V5, but we have no clue what our gear ratio should be. We have the standard internal V5 gears (we don’t have the turbo cartridges). Our flywheel will be a single wheel with a 4-inch diameter. Can someone help us with how big we should make the gear ratio?
15:1 (3000 RPM) works really well. That would be accomplished with a 5:1 and a separate 3:1. Once you get your 600 RPM cartridges, you can simplify your gearbox with just a 5:1 and get exactly the same output speed. Good luck!
We are not getting cartridges. We just got the V5 itself, and we don’t feel like waiting 8 more weeks.
LOL that’s fair.
Quick side note- I ordered my cartridges on August 6th 2018. After 6 calls to VEX, they’re expected to come this Thursday. That’s over 21 weeks. 8 is blatantly false.
But yeah, the rule of thumb is 3000 RPM. With only one wheel, you might actually do better with a slightly higher ratio, but there’s no easy way to get anywhere over 3000 under 4200 with Vex gears. I’d recommend putting some foam on the wheel to increase it’s diameter or using multiple wheels, since a single wheel at 3000 RPM might not have enough power to turn stiff flags.
Good luck!
Our team has a 1:25 with a 100 rpm motor on it (2500 rpm max). Gets full range of the field and works really well. The torque motor also has a relatively fast startup time, but usually we just keep it running during the match because we have an indexer on our intake. Flywheel works really well. Would recommend that or a 1:15 at 200 rpm motor (3000 rpm max).
Also make sure the gearbox has little friction. Make sure it is all braced right and bearings are where they need to be. You should be able to free spin the wheel for a solid 10 seconds. If any friction is added it can really slow down the flywheel, and could cause the flywheel burn out during a match. It’s more important to reduce the friction of the gearbox rather than increasing the gear ratio.
Lastly, make sure to have compression on the flywheel and/or hood. We use the adhesive foam sold on the vex shop, and it works wonders with our flywheel. We have it on our 4" diameter traction wheels and the hood.