Why crowned pulleys and bandsaw wheels?

[tonyfoale]

I have spent many years working with and repairing Gyros, and I understand the theory of how they work but I am often asked "how do they work" and it is very difficult to explain this to those without the basics. I would be very interested to read your straightforward explanation so that I can explain it better. I hate the blank looks I often get when I try to explain it all. Of course the new Piezo, LED, Laser "Gyros" so common today, have stolen the real Gyro's name and work differently.

OK, I'll made that a separate post though, so watch out for it.

I agree about the name gyro being hijacked by totally different devices. When the Segway came out the press reports stated that it was gyro stabilised. As you will know it would have had to be bigger and heavier to do that. In reality it used an IMU, inertia sensors, to detect its balance state and then apply torque to the wheels to correct balance errors. No gyros in sight.