pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis

[Ricky Q.]

[cdm-description=photo]38314[/cdm-description]

[AlecMataloni]

Does it come in black?

[Chinmay]

how are chains tensioned?

It was cool watching this progress as the day went on. Great price tag too!

[Redo91]

I imagine the center to center spacing is such that an exact number of chain links can be made without the need to tension.

It is awesome to see things like this being done.

[Redo91]

EDIT: Double post, seem to be missing the delete button...

[Chinmay]

I imagine the center to center spacing is such that an exact number of chain links can be made without the need to tension.

It is awesome to see things like this being done.

Yea, I thought that too, but then i saw how close the chain on the 8wd side of the bot is to the floor and it made me a bit worried :)

[ttldomination]

Does it come in black?

I don't think they tried to market it to the billionaire, spelunking, base-jumping crowd.

- Sunny G.

[s_forbes]

CIMs are going to look comically large on all the smaller robots this year. And look how much room the battery takes up!

[Barry Bonzack]

So I noticed the talent working this project included 2 VPs, a director, a mechnanical engineer, a marketing manager, 2 engineering interns, and 1 other intern. Being an engineering planning and cost analyst, I wondered "what would this project cost?" Specifically, if these people were to bid this as a contract, or charge it direct to the company, what would be the price tag.

Assumption: all 8 employees worked from 7:15am - 7:00 pm (11.75 hours)

The answer: Between $10,000 - $20,000
(ambiguity to not reveal proprietary information that would cost me my career)

Thank you IFI and VEX team for your many many hours of hard work and donations to support STEM education.


Students, consider this every night when you are at your build space. Look around the room, see all of the mentors there making your build season happen, and consider what their time is worth. If 1 day of 8 people working is worth between 10-20K to an engineering company, what is 6 weeks?

[Taylor]

Does it come in black?
I sure hope so.
We know that efficiency and speed increase by 17% when a material is anodized.

[JVN]

The answer: Between $10,000 - $20,000

You can't put a price tag on labors of love. :)

The founders / owners of IFI are both committed to supporting the FRC program. Tony & Bob have made it very clear that they want us to continue doing cool things like "drive in a day" to help support the community; this is great news for people like myself and the others in our company who came in on Sunday and are HAPPY to donate our time to projects like this.

I think it is fantastic that the co-owner and CTO of a multi-million dollar international company would give up his Sunday to play with robots. It makes me proud to work here.

Also... This was one of the first design projects that I've had the chance to work on with both Bob & Raul -- it was a VERY cool experience to collaborate on such a short project with two such impressive designers.

-John

[Gregor]

Looks like a great project, thanks IFI.

Care to explain the different wheel spacing on each side of the drive?

[AllenGregoryIV]

Looks like a great project, thank IFI.

Care to explain the different wheel spacing on each side of the drive?

They built it to accommodate both 6 and 8 wheel drive designs. They wanted to test both on the prototype so they did one on each side.

[clandry94]

Does anyone have an idea when this will be available to purchase?

[Ricky Q.]

We have it ready for purchase now!

Details on the final VEXpro Drive in a Day Chassis Kit and Accessories are available here:

http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/chassis-and-framing/2013-drive-in-a-day.html

Best,
Ricky

[BJC]

Looks great! I have a couple questions about it though:

-What kind of torsional stiffness does it have?
-How much does the frame weigh?
-What are the configurable size dimensions?
-What are the axle diameters and what is your method of containing and tensioning them? (It's very difficult to tell from the picture.)


Thanks, Bryan

[tim-tim]

And yet another great piece from the group down in Texas.

Call me lazy, but what is the "as shown" price?

[ChuckDickerson]

What is "Narrow Wheel Config" vs. "Wide Wheel Config"?

I was under the impression this chassis was setup for a single configuration (23.5" x 31.5" "long orientation"). Is "Narrow Wheel Config" vs. "Wide Wheel Config" referring to the chassis configuration or the width of the wheels (i.e. 1", 1.5", 2")?

[skimoose]

And yet another great piece from the group down in Texas.

Call me lazy, but what is the "as shown" price?

Went live today. http://www.vexrobotics.com/2013-drive-in-a-day.html

$99.99 for chassis kit
$9.99 gearbox mount bracket for short/wide robot
$9.99 gearbox mount bracket for long/narrow robot
$19.99 chassis brace kit for short/wide robot
$19.99 chassis brace kit for long/narrow robot
$29.99 bumper mounting bracket kit (4 side / 4 front/back brackets)
$9.99 chassis accessory rail (2 pack)
$19.99 battery mount kit

[Bob Mimlitch 3]

A few answers to several questions:
"Narrow Wheel Config" is for 1" wheels
"Wide Wheel Config" is for 1.5" and 2" wheels (shown in the photos)

The chassis length (31.5") is fixed. The width can be reduced from 23.5 in 1/2" increments.

Weight is posted at 6.83 lbs (metal only) for the 6 piece chassis.

A complete BOM is coming.

[Ricky Q.]

And yet another great piece from the group down in Texas.

Call me lazy, but what is the "as shown" price?

The "as shown" price for our recommended setup with 2 Ball Shifters (no motors) is $697.16 - includes all VEXpro parts and some McMaster-Carr Hardware for the axles.

The price for a setup with 2 Single Speed, Single Reduction Gearboxes (no motors) is $477.16

Complete parts lists for each setup are on the webpage. (http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/chassis-and-framing/2013-drive-in-a-day.html)

Best,
Ricky

[ChuckDickerson]

A few answers to several questions:
"Narrow Wheel Config" is for 1" wheels
"Wide Wheel Config" is for 1.5" and 2" wheels (shown in the photos)


Thanks Bob. Is there an error on the order page mixing up the Chassis Brace Kits? It seems the parts listed are backwards with regards to the wheel widths.

[Ricky Q.]

Looks great! I have a couple questions about it though:

What are the axle diameters and what is your method of containing and tensioning them? (It's very difficult to tell from the picture.)


The axles are VEXpro Tube Axle Stock (3 feet) cut to 4" lengths.

Here's a shot of the center wheel / axle assembly:

http://content.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/images/VEXpro_Chassis_WheelAssembly.png

[tim-tim]

The "as shown" price for our recommended setup with 2 Ball Shifters (no motors) is $697.16 - includes all VEXpro parts and some McMaster-Carr Hardware for the axles.

The price for a setup with 2 Single Speed, Single Reduction Gearboxes (no motors) is $477.16

Complete parts lists for each setup are on the webpage. (http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/chassis-and-framing/2013-drive-in-a-day.html)

Best,
Ricky

Thanks! This may be of interest for a personal project I'm working on.

Out of curiosity, is there a reason a wide orientation platform was not developed? I know this was a quick, "one day" build, but have to ask.

[z_beeblebrox]

This is probably what 4183 will end up using, as a custom sheet metal drivetrain that we would otherwise design would end up looking very similar to this and require much more time.

We got some of the new Vex Pro stuff today and were impressed with its quality, so that makes it more likely that we will use this drivetrain.

Thanks to IFI for the great product and price.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Just put in the order for ours. Hoping it arrives Monday. We're probably going to need to modify it a bit to make a few things fit, but it's going to save us a tone of time over designing one ourselves.

[Bob Mimlitch 3]

Out of curiosity, is there a reason a wide orientation platform was not developed? I know this was a quick, "one day" build, but have to ask.

Tim-Tim, in our initial analysis of the game we determined that the best chassis shape was this narrow format. This was based on various factors detailed here (http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/one-day-build.html).

Making a fixed size chassis allowed us to improve structural rigidity when compared to a more flexible design. An example of this is the improved corner joints that are stronger and weigh less. Another example is our ability to design fixed chain length (no chain tensioning) for 4WD, 6WD, and 8WD. This follows along with one of my favorite design mantra's "You can do one thing very well, or do everything mediocre".

If you need complete flexibility, the 2005 Kitbot Chassis parts are still available.

[Ricky Q.]

Just put in the order for ours. Hoping it arrives Monday. We're probably going to need to modify it a bit to make a few things fit, but it's going to save us a tone of time over designing one ourselves.

Hi Allen,

We have your order and will be shipping this out today via your selected shipping method. Look for a shipping confirmation before the end of the business day.

Best,
Ricky

[arun4444]

What would be the easiest way to replace the 2 stage with a 3 stage?

cheers
arun