Sprokets and Chains

[James_IC]

I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on the number of teeth that should be in contact with the chain at any one time on the front sproket? There are two points:

(1)At the moment I think we are using a T14 and I was thinking about going lower but am woried about high impact forces.

(2)The the distance that the rear sproket is from the front one varies the angle that the chain is at and therefore the number of teeth in contact.

I would be interested to hear what people think.

[James_IC]

I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on the number of teeth that should be in contact with the chain at any one time on the front sproket? There are two points:

(1)At the moment I think we are using a T14 and I was thinking about going lower but am woried about high impact forces.

(2)The the distance that the rear sproket is from the front one varies the angle that the chain is at and therefore the number of teeth in contact.

I would be interested to hear what people think.

[James_IC]

Correction we are using a T12 on the front.

[LukeT]

If I remember correctly, a machine design textbook said that you should have 90 degrees of chain contacting the sprocket at the least. With smaller sprockets, like your T12 or our T13 that little contact means only 3-4 teeth grabbing the chain, which kind of worries me...

-Luke Thompson
Vandals Racing 2003-04
University of Idaho