VECTr – Variably Expanding Chain Transmission

I took VECTr for a quick spin around the neighborhood. Here is the uncut video of how it performed. I added some annotation just let you know when gear changes were taking place — they are virtually imperceptible otherwise.

There was a minor issue of a gear segment slipping into a lower position during a gear change. This was due to the controller being in a less-than-precise setting, being moved as it was by the lever/friction shifter attached to it. This could be remedied by using an index shifter (if one were calibrated to the rather large (relatively speaking) jumps between gear settings) or an electronic shifter, again properly calibrated.

Also, I think the springs biasing the locking pins in the gear segments are not as stiff and strong as they should be to catch the gear segment’s movement into the just the next gear setting and no further. I can solve this latter issue easily by using better springs, and will do so soon. The former issue would need to be addressed by someone more skilled in the fabrication of components than me, your humble inventor.