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Do you have to have the same number of "rifts" on your rack as your gear? My current gear has about 25 "spikes", while my rack has 12.

mcmastercar sells a number of rack and pinion gears. we just got ours and they work great

GoNerdHerd wrote:Do you have to have the same number of "rifts" on your rack as your gear? My current gear has about 25 "spikes", while my rack has 12.

that does not matter. as long as the distance between the "spikes" are the same, it should work

Would belt drive be considered rack and pinion gear? I took apart a printer today, and got the the belt drive out of it, it looks exactly like a rack and pinion gear system except the belt that has the gearing teeth is flexible and it is in contact with the top and bottom of the running gear.

hogger wrote:Would belt drive be considered rack and pinion gear? I took apart a printer today, and got the the belt drive out of it, it looks exactly link a rack and pinion gear except the belt with that has the gearing teeth is flexible and it is in contact with the top and bottom of the running gear.

yes

Well, that simple "Yes" can open a huge can of worms and ruin someone's day.

If you use the belt and associated gear to move something linearly, fine. Fabulously inexpensive, too. Compared to $6 for 20cm of Kelvin track.
BUT
Use the belt in its as-built purpose (non-slip V-belt) and just spin a gear, and you no longer have a rack & pinion.

As an event sup, I'll be looking for one of the following three:
A rack moving linearly, turning a stationary pinion gear
A stationary turning gear moving a rack linearly.
A stationary rack upon which a gear moves linearly down the track
PLUS:
The operation of one of the three above CAUSING the next action/step/whatever.


REMEMBER that it's the SETUP and USE of the component(s) that determines what simple machine is being used.

Thank you for the explanation. I will take a closer look at the system I have.

Yes, please be careful. I didn't properly know the definition of rack and pinion, and I used a chain drive and didn't get points for it at the competition.