Gear Drive Discussion

Thanks Bill for bumping my status up to post this.


What are the differences between all the gear drives out there?

I know that regarding belt and pulley drives, the main differences are in their centre to centre length, the ability to hold an idler and whether it’s made from better materials or not? It is to my understanding that difference is what justifies the difference in price across the many sellers in the market.

However, when it comes to gear drives, I’m trying to understand why the prices differ so much when comparing between the different options. I was looking at drives by avX, Moon, 3dServisas, and Etoxx with Etoxx being considerably more expensive than the rest? Also, I tried contacting jed boards on selling their gear drives alone, but to no avail. I don’t know really know what’s up with them.

When it comes to these sellers, am I paying for customer service, the brand, the latest innovation or just quality parts in general? It would help greatly if you guys can share your experiences with them here! Let me know if I’ve missed out any gear drive sellers too!

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DEAR GOD NO.

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Also, take a look at this:

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OH GOD NO

Oh yes…

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For gear drives, is sound an issue for you? So far there are gear drives that are straight cut which sound a bit louder than helical gears and herringbone gears. Helical gears are slanted slightly and Herringbone has a V shape teeth.

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There lots of differences.
To name some:
Gear ratios (kaly for example sell only 1:4 with a fixed motor mount position)
Size which defines the clearance
Helical hear, straight cut or herringbone
Material of wheel gear
Compatibility with trucks (most are fixed to one hanger type, moons do fit different hanger)
Some need cnc of the hanger
Availability of wheel adapter
Compatibility with AS5047 encoder
Compatibility with 63xx and/or 80xx motors
Etc.

When it comes to pricing, well every vendor is free to set his price how he think it’s right.
One thing to consider is that some of the gears for example produced in EU which makes them not the cheapest already in production, others are produced in China or other countries where it’s cheaper to produce it.
It also depends on the amount of gears which are produced. If you have the money to produce a big amount of gears in one it always makes production cheaper.

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Avoid straight cut gears - you might as well stick to belts if you do…

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Can you elaborate why? :sweat_smile:

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Besides the sound, straight cut gears are fine.

If you ride in areas where people get scared by whirring sounds… then helical or herringbone would be a better option.

@Rake If you are looking for a urethane gear drive for wheel sizes 100mm~120mm, the 3DServisas nano drive would be of interest to you. When it comes to bigger sizes that uses AT, then you have a lot more options.

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@Linny & @BillGordon

Oh my… do people have beef with jed boards here? Haha. Good thing there’s a forum here to steer me in the right direction! I stay in a city, so yes, sound is definitely an issue. If it’s louder than a boosted board, it’s too loud for me. I’m guessing this is an issue for most folks too? I’ve esk8 buddies here using a trampa gear drive and they are obnoxiously loud! I would want to avoid stares from people as best I can.

If im not wrong, the trampa gears are helical gears and are pretty darn loud… is that the softest gear drives can get? If so… it’s definitely a deal breaker. On the topic of herringbone gears, the only ones I’ve seen out there are those from avX, are those any good? I read that they are adaptable to 110 and 120mm wheels through some adapter or did I get it wrong?

@Andy87

Ah, thanks for explaining! Other than the technical aspects of the drives, who would you say will have the best after-sales service? This is probably the most important factor for me. I’ve had horrible experiences with companies from China, not to say that all companies from that region are bad, i just have had my fair share.

@spade

Is it because they are just insanely loud?

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With a good grease even the sound is ok with straight cut. I wouldn’t go straight cut for a street cruiser or urethane board, but the advantage of better free roll, no belt slipping and the enclosed drive are big advantages over a belt drive in my opinion.

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From my personal experience you will get a good after sale support from @moon @NoWind and as well from @3DServisas others I didn’t buy anything from, so I can’t comment on them.
But I think all gears which where designed by people from our community are willing to help you out with any question you will have later with assembling or maintenance.

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Uhm… Why do you think this is true?

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Helical should be stronger (for the same teeth size) since they have a larger contact area.

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Because I have seen 4 helicals gears brake during one season and no any of the straight cut gears.

Edit: Besides this I had a small research and hm ja it’s not right, helicals should be stronger :sweat_smile: Thx @avX for making me learn something new today :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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That can happen for a number of reasons but it doesn’t mean that in general straight cut is stronger than helical.

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i might be wrong in this point then.

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then :slight_smile:

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Ja got it, my English is horrible… thank you :joy:

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Just teasing you. Your English is good. Definitely no worse than mine. :slight_smile:

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