Gear Train Design for 300 ft/min Conveyor at 1760 RPM Motor

[erader2]

Homework Statement

A belt conveyor with a 1-foot diameter is driven by an electric motor. The conveyor must travel at 300 linear feet per minute while the motor turns at 1760 RPM. Design a gear train to connect the motor and conveyor and choose gears from McMaster-Carr.

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

I calculated the RPM of the conveyor to be 95.5 RPM. I thought the simplest design would be if there was a compound gear on the shaft of the conveyor and the shaft of the electric motor, giving a simple two gear design. However, the calculated gear ratio is 18.4 and I cannot find two gears on the McMaster-Carr website that would give me that gear ratio. I read somewhere that between two spur gears the highest gear ratio is usually 10:1. I don't think a worm gear applies because that is for converting a high speed to a very low speed. Is that correct, or is 95.5 RPM sufficiently slow?

 

[CWatters]

Have you considered 3 gears?

Looks possible and keeps each stage <10:1

PS I haven't actually checked the website to see if the right gears exist.