#3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

2nd year FRC team... WHAT are we up to?

This is the practice bot metal... competition bot metal is off for paint...

At this point, on the box aluminum, the lightening holes have not been added and the trusses do not have their angle cuts yet...

ANY comments would be appreciated... THANKS!

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Looks like someone found themselves a sheet metal sponsor.

Laser? Waterjet?

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Believe it or not, a _metal bit_...

www.m2global.com

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Oh My god. These parts look almost exactly like ours. This is what it looked like when we got all of our parts in. Except we painted them, and have our biggest sponsor (my dad's company lol) water-jet the parts :)

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

AND your point/comment is _exactly_ WHAT, Aaron? LOL ;-)

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Yikes, that must've taken some time.

Looks great though!

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Dustin, our machine shop sponsor, www.m2global.com , does work for military aviation... and the sheet metal cannot be laser cut in aviation due to the heating at the edges, so they use a metal bit.

The machine M2 uses is awesomely fast... in the videos I've seen of them cutting our metal on 4'x4' sheets the speed appears to be 80% of a laser cut!!

GLAD you like what you see... 14 months ago we didn't know a "Digital Sidecar from a Railway Car"... I'm sure you can appreciate ALL that has gone into trying to elevate this team to a high-ranking here in Texas... ;-)

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

If you just got these parts today, I know what you are up to: lots of late nights putting these parts together! :]

and dude!!

Helotes, TX rocks! Lived in the Northside for 5 years. My Scout troop was out there. Lived in Braun Station off Bandera Rd.
Good Memories...

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Just came back from THANKING our powder coat sponsor... Lone Star Powder Coating, San Antonio...

AWESOME of them to have done the school colors of blue/orange for FREE on our competition bot!!

Powder coated FRC robots are a beautiful sight!

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

I thought there would be a little more interest/comments given we're a 2nd year team trying to make the leap...

Oh well... back to work...

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Nice work and sponsorship.
At first I thought the sponsor was IFI.:cool:

Now its more incentive for us to finally get a Waterjet by summer 2012.......

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Hi Michael,

Looks awesome. Can't wait to see it at Dallas East! Don't feel bad if you don't get a lot of comments - everyone is in total crunch time (except this Business Group mentor apparently).

As soon as we are all "bagged," you will get some attention, I promise. I started a thread announcing an off-season in Arkansas and got not one response yet. So, you need to go look that up also. ;)

Cheers, Meredith

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Glenn, that's interesting that you would think IFI cut/bent our metal... I'm interested in knowing the buzz, if any, about our team...

We'd be _honored_ to be an IFI-team... but, we have a LONG way to go for that to _even be_ a possibility... and I'm not sure they're interested in taking on another team... so, we _push_ forward...

THANKS for the compliment, hope to meet you at Lonestar-Houston (we'll be spectators)...

--Michael

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

No problem. I just made that comment based on no other information other than your photos.
Very impressive and I'm sure your robot will turn heads once its complete.

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

All I can say is that you guys are WAY better off than we were in our 2nd season. By this time our main materials was pvc and wood. Good job to you guys! Good luck! If you make it to STL, I come check you out, seeing as I live in the area. Kepp up the good work!

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

THANKS, Walter... I _appreciate_ the compliment and sentiments... ;-)

We hope to make it back to St. Louis this season, we learned loads there last year, and hope to meet you there!

--Michael

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

THANKS, Meredith!

I told you we were going to try to make a leap to top-tier... and so far, so good...

Though, it doesn't really matter what we think of ourselves.. you're only "top-tier" IF others see you that way... and we have a lot to prove this season to even have a shot at that happening...

I posted on your Arkansas Off-season post... we're interested in competing there and we'll see how things unfold with schedules and budgeting... but, most likely we'll be there... ;-)

Looking forward to seeing you guys at Dallas-East...

--Michael

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Michael the parts look awesome, at first I was on the same page as Glenn too about IFI because I know Parker, and I believe Charles as well, is mentoring on your team.

Looks like those two had quite the influence on your manufacturing technique, very glad to see that. We went with sheetmetal this year as well, although I must admit your pocketing and lightening pattern look much much nicer.

And yeah, yikes about having those cut without a laser/waterjet. How long did the parts take?

Good luck this year!

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Akash, yes, Parker and Charles gave us the honor of joining our team as mentors and showing us how to prototype/test/repeat in wood/sheet-metal/Lexan, and how to brainstorm solutions...

Their leadership in design/CAD and game approach/strategy has been stunning to all of us... and we're super grateful to have them as Bronc Botz members after years of success with 148 Robowranglers...

ADDED BONUS: They're both GREAT guys... fun/interesting/substantial/high-achievers/honorable... THE best!

Parker is team Competition Coach as well... NOT BAD having a former World Champion Driver on the field... ;-)

As for the cutting speed, from the videos I've seen of M2 Global cutting our metal, I'd say their metal-bit approach is about 80% speed of a laser-cut...

THANKS for the compliment... hope to meet you at St. Louis this year!

--Michael

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

As a former student turned mentor, I'm glad to see that these two former students doing the same. Returning students are a large part of the future of the program, and allow "rookie" teams, and young teams to really excel.

The sheetmetal looks great. Let's see it all assembled?

Re: #3481 Bronc Botz - FRC tease...
 

Justin, THANKS for the compliment! We'll get pictures up soon after Ship Day...

--Michael