Ok so my very thin (or short depending on your point of reference) Micro-V belts are working great. But I want even
more flexibility. However I cannot thin them out any further. On the backside…I'll run into the cords. I left about the thickness of a sheet of paper over the cords. And on the ribbed side, I'll lose traction if I trim too much - the ribs need to wedge into the pulley groove's 40º angle for traction. No problem, time for some more
Science.
Amongst belt suppliers that offer a choice of rubber compounds, the softer versions enjoy a tighter minimum bend radius for a given construction. Do want! I could not find soft Micro-Vs, so
I made some. I used some tire softening agent. Soak, and the chemicals go right into the rubber.
Yeah they do more easily bend, and they bend further, to a sharper angle. This will help the belts achieve a good wrap around both the 20 mm motor pulleys and the 27 mm steering shaft drive pulley when low belt tension is utilized. You can see this in the video. This will help me keep cutting drag (for those not up to date I am finding that drag reduction helps car control due to better countersteer, while higher forces without fade aids fun, realism, and immersion). I tested this belt flexibility more scientifically of course, using weights needed to achieve a given pulley wrap angle. However that is harder to fit into a very brief video. I can do something like a 15 mm pulley now as a minimum. I don't plan to do that (would boost torque quite a bit, while needing more drive voltage to hit the 200 RPM goal) as I am focussed on feel and drag issues for the moment.
Check it out, Fana-Blog 4: Chem Belts:
