FSAE Gearbox Service Tooling

Hytech Racing, Georgia Tech's electric Formula SAE team. Rebuilding our planetary gearbox took 30+ minutes and depended on knowing the tricks. I designed and machined 6 reusable aluminum and steel press tools, a gear-clocking tool, and written work instructions, cutting service time to as little as 10 minutes.

The problem

During the build season the gearbox came apart roughly every other shop night. The planet gears had to be "clocked" into the correct orientation with very little room to reach in or hold them, and the job depended on the few people who already knew how.

What I built

• 6 press tools, sized to the actual gearbox geometry and machined from aluminum and steel (CNC, lathe, bandsaw, angle grinder).

• A gear-clocking tool (3D CNC) that holds the gears' orientation while most of the gearbox is assembled.

• Written work instructions, so any teammate could do the job, not just the people who already knew how.

Result

Service time fell from 30+ minutes to as little as 10, which made quick trackside repairs between events possible.

Lesson: the opportunity wasn't a more complicated technical solution. It was noticing a repetitive problem and building something that made the whole team faster.