Constructing a Continuously Variable Transmission

Oct 26, 2007 9 Replies
P

Hi there,



Firstly, I am not sure if this is the correct group for this, so if there is a more relevant one, please say...



I have a project in mind that has some sort of gear system as a key part. I have decided that a continuously variable transmission would be best for this, but I have no idea how to go about constructing one, which is a bit of a problem!



Therefore, I was wondering if there were some people out there that might be able to point me in the direction of some plans etc that would allow me to attempt construction of one of these?



Many thanks in advance



Tim



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R

What about buying one instead of building your own? There's been a handful of cars in the last 5 years with CVT's, you could probably find one at the junkyard or an auction, pull the CVT and scrap the rest of the vehicle.

Probably cheaper than designing and building one from scratch, unless that's a big part of the project.

Ray

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J

If you are looking to use it on a low power unit then just find a junk motor scooter.

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P

I did think about this, but I kinda need one smaller than the ones that I suspect will be found as part of a car.

Cheers

Tim

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T

Are you a machinist? Are you a metallurgist? Can you heat treat?

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T

No tips on constructing one, but here's the basic principle:

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4 V-belt pulley halves and some actuators to make them open and close in opposition to each other shouldn't be too hard to construct in a machine shop, given enough time and money. V-belts are cheap and plentiful, just pick one with the right V angle and width. The belt will probably need to be quite wide to accommodate a useful range of ratios, so you might look into V-belts designed for industrial or agricultural applications rather than automotive.

As mentioned, a scooter is probably a good source for a small CVT.

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C

Look on the net for, Comet Torque Converters. cuhulin

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