RiftFlyers G-Seat

[RiftFlyer]

I've hit a problem with my pot arrangement. As you can see in the pictures I was using mxl belts and pulleys. Even after adding idler pulleys to tension the belt and increase contact the belts will occasionally slip on the pulleys during quick direction changes.

I'm currently trying to source an alternative spur gear arrangement. I need a ratio of about 3.5:1 and bore sizes of 8mm for the larger gear and 1/4" for the pot gear. Any I've found cost ridiculous money. If anyone has suggestions let me *

For others considering a build avoid mxl belts. They just don't have the bite needed for this application.

[jtplagun]

Any progress on the project? ;] I'm very curious of the outcome, can't wait to see it.

I had a similar problem with pulleys, so I can share my idea. To cut costs on my graduation project, I've made pulleys of solid polycarbonate.
You can laser-cut Yours out of acrylic or polycarbonate sheet. There's just one thing You must remember, small laser cutters/engravers usually are able to cut clearly through 4-8mm sheets without distortion, so You may need to cut and stack up 2-3 pulleys together.

Second, better solution is to carve polycarbonate/acrylic/polyamide pulleys on CNC. I've made a pair of pulleys on cnc too and I was pleased with the outcome.
I only hope You're a lucky man with access to at least one of those machines. In both cases it's a good idea to pick a belt and pulleys with bigger teeth (eg. T10), so they hook deeper and probably won't slip so easily.

I've paid about 7-8$ for materials + 12$ for 5mm router bit, so it was still cheaper than paying 30$ for just one pulley. There's no any enormous tensions or forces, so polycarbonate or polyamide pulleys should withstand it.

If You're interested, You can send me some info about pulleys - I mean number of teeth and belt type, so I could send You DXF blueprint to cut.