Dewalt Motor Transmissions?

[pjlap]

I'm new to FIRST this year and even though my team is in its 5th year they have never used anything other than the CIM motors. We have recently come up with a design approach for our robot that included using 2 P60 transmissions with a BB550 and another P60 with BB 395. Since there is a backlog for them I am exploring trying to use drill transmissions instead.

Is there a document that states what is legal with regards to using drill transmissions for gearboxes? Can we use the keyless chuck as well or do we need to come up with some other way to adapt the drive shafts?

Or is there some other solution that might be a better option?

Any help would be appreciated. I am an EE in an ME's world and unfortunately I'm the resident expert on my team. (I knew I should have paid more attention in Statics and Dynamics.)

[Tom Line]

As long as the part is commericially available to teams for under the one item limit (I believe it's $400), there's no limit on the type of mechanical system you can purchase.

There is a white paper here under the media section that will explain how to couple your dewalts to anything you would want. The fisher-price section is VERY similar to how you would do, say, a 775 banebot, with only some slight modifications to the distance you need between the face of the motor and the pinion gear, and the placement of the holes to mount the motor. The name of that paper is "Nothing but Dewalts".

[pjlap]

Can you use an old broken that is no longer on the market or does it need to be commercially available today?

[Tom Line]

Per Steve's correction - you can use parts no longer commercially available as long as you didn't modify them in any way. Go figure.

[StevenB]

Is there a document that states what is legal with regards to using drill transmissions for gearboxes?
Maybe you're looking for the FRC Game Manual (http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/content.aspx?id=452)?

The product must be available to all teams. So if it is something old off the shelf in your garage that no one else can purchase, you can't use it.
Uh, that's false. See <R29> (emphasis mine).

<R29> COTS items from ROBOTS entered in previous FIRST competitions or COTS items that are no longer commercially available may be used under the following conditions:
A. The item must be functionally equivalent to the original condition as delivered from the VENDOR (e.g. a part that has non-functional label markings added would be permitted, but a part that has device-specific mounting holes added would be prohibited), and
B. The item must satisfy ALL applicable 2011 FRC materials/parts use rules.


The Dewalt whitepaper is here on CD-Media (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1592). Search around and you'll find a ton of stuff.

[Tom Line]

Wow. Mea Culpa.

[Chris is me]

That is incredibly weird - you can use unavailable COTS stuff, but you can't modify it?

I'm pretty sure any use of a Dewalt transmission no longer available would be a modification.

[Vikesrock]

That is incredibly weird - you can use unavailable COTS stuff, but you can't modify it?


I believe what the rule intends is that the part must be intact when you retrieve it. This would be required to align with the "all work done during build" rule. Modifications of the item during build should be perfectly legal.

[pjlap]

Thanks for all of the info.

I knew that commercial parts were acceptable I just wanted to make sure there was not anything special pertaining to gearboxes and transmissions.

I have a couple of old broken down drills that we can mess with to keep moving forward and possibly end up using if our gearboxes do not arrive in time.