ZD planetary gearboxes

Hello, very nice forum you’ve got going here! I’ve been interested in building an electric boat propulsion system akin to torqeedos for close to two years now. I haven’t gotten very far, so its very exciting to see all of your progress!

Anyhow, through my internet scouring I have discovered a gearbox that, to me, looks very promising for this kind of application. However, I can’t find any experiences of it or useful forum discussions about it!

The 1-stage models are rated up to 60 N, around 4 times the neugart ple 40, and the 60x60 mm flange makes for a 85 mm can. At $140 thats very good imo, but the size might discourage someone looking for a very lean design. I don’t think these look like the average low performance planetaries found on aliexpress and ebay, but that doesn’t make them the chinese neugarts either! Any input?

@olfox I think the maximum input speed of that gearbox is only 3000 rpm which is far to slow

It looks like the 070 is rated for 5000 rpm normal and 10000 rpm max according to the sheet. I think that’s the perfect range for cheap outrunners and doable for some inrunners!

I’ve read quite a few posts about people struggling with planetary gearboxes. I’m not using one myself but has anyone tried gear oil instead of grease. As they are being run at far greater speeds than intended those tiny gear teeth must be getting extremely hot. Most of the grease would likely flick off at high rpm and what’s left will probably burn as the heat builds up.
If I was using a planetary gearbox (I may be soon if my thing doesn’t work) this is the approach I would try:
Half fill it with oil so it has room to expand. Figure out how to keep the outer casing of the gearbox cool so the oil doesn’t heat up to much then consider how to easily change the oil regularly.
If someone’s willing to risk a gearbox I think it’s worth a try. If it overcomes the heat issue it may mean some of the cheaper gearboxes are an option.

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