Instead of transmitting torque by a bunch of small involute or straight spines, they apparently used a large "sinusoidal spline." At least with this approach it's easy to CNC mill the external and internal pattern (CNC milling cost is a non-issue). Lets me ditch the dowel pin pattern approach. On these parts I just have a placeholder shape, until I can figure out how best to draw this damn thing.
Redesigned some stuff, starting with the tripod housing, which now also incorporates the features that drive the hub (had been 2 pieces previously). Total weight of this unit, made from steel, is about 1 lb, which in itself is roughly a 1 lb reduction (!!) from the previous arrangement. If I made this piece from billet Titanium, I could shave off even more. I think we can all agree that would be baller extreme. However, the stock material cost for enough 3" diameter Titanium bar to make two of these is roughly $1,000, whereas I could have enough stock for three of the things in 416 stainless for less than $100.
Additionally the hub can now accept this pattern.
The two mate together as such.
In this way, the drive shaft is held to the hub and upright by means of a single nut, which is accessible even with the wheel still on the car (by putting a socket and extension down the center bore of the hub.
Might even work.
2 comments:
What kind of bearings are you going to use?
What is the manifacturer's name?
Those at the moment are deep groove ball bearings. In my [limited] experience, radial bearing loads are the killer more than axial loads, since the two bearings have to resolve the combined overturning moments created at the tire footprint.
Haven't settled on a manufacturer. The nice thing is with standard bearings that multiple manufacturers make the same thing. FAG, INA, SKF, Timken.. might all make the same style bearing.
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