pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

Does it come in black?

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

how are chains tensioned?

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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 :)

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

- Sunny G.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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?

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

I sure hope so.
We know that efficiency and speed increase by 17% when a material is anodized.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

Looks like a great project, thanks IFI.

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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/ch...-in-a-day.html

Best,
Ricky

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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")?

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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.

Best,
Ricky

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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.

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.

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

Re: pic: VEXpro Drive in a Day - Final Chassis
 

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

cheers
arun