Balsa does make alot of sence to use, seeing as how I've got it stockpiled for my planes, and its so easy to work with. I was origionally going to use 3/4 in ply, to make the origional. Thanks for the ideas, especially the 360 div. by # of teeth, and the inner cleat angles, (dont know why I didnt think of that :-) ). Now I can finally start the drive wheels and hopefully get my tracks built soon before spring. ( Going to be a stretch, but I work on my tank about 1-3 hours a day). I've got a bandsaw, desktop jigsaw, and benchsander to aid in making the sprockets. So far I'm making good progress, I've got the whole upper and lower chassis compleated, also the rear track tensioner is installed. Next, need to finish the suspension and mount the road wheels. And start on the turret, most likley will while I wait for the plastic drive sprockets to cure. Thanks again!
chris barthelson <barthelson88-at-hotmail.com> wrote:
>By the way, how did you manage to get all of the teeth on the original to >be exactly the same >distance apart? Divide 360 by the number of teeth (my case 11) and that's where the center of each tooth will be, ie 360/11=32.72 so each tooth will be 32.72 degrees apart. Then make all the teeth an equal thickness and then measure in-between them to determine the cleat width. I did mine on corel draw because you can type in the angles and dimensions. Then when you cut your tracks the angle of the inner cleats will be half of the tooth angle, ie 32.72/2=16.36, then set your table saw or what ever your using to this angle and they should mesh nicely. >And how did you make the original drive sprocket, did you use a CNC >machine? Because I havnt >got access to a CNC and am open to
suggestions to >making a perfect sprocket to make my mold. CNC?????!!!! I used a jig saw mounted upside down in a bench....... I glued the printout of the sprocket from corel onto the balsa wood and then just cut around it. After that prepare to sand for next 5-6 hours to fine tune the shape to an original inner cleat, so that all the spacing and angles are right. >Thanks again. No probs... Chris"Jigsaw"Barthelson PS the pic is the balsa original, no need to use a strong wood if your just casting them anyway, much easier to use balsa. _________________________________________________________________ Buy now -at- Tradingpost.com.au http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fad%2Eau%2Edoubleclick%2Enet%2Fclk%3B24875379%3B12369854%3Ba%3Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Etradingpost%2Ecom%2Eau%3Freferrer%3DnmsnHMetagv1&_t=752643439&_r=hotmailtagline&_m=EXT
