Chief Delphi - [FRC Blog] Veteran Team Drive Base Option and Registration Progress

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux (Post 1609335)

I will say that the versaframe system is very good as well. We used the versaframe style of building everywhere on top of the kit of parts drive last year and it worked out great. Regardless of which one you choose, you still need to think about system integration and that's where doing a bit of CAD upfront really helps.

Even creating a WCD using the versa system from scratch will take a little longer than just assembling the kit of parts drive base. We saved probably 3-4 days last year of fabrication and assembly compared to assembling a WCD. Make sure your time and resources wouldn't be better spent on what goes on top of the drive train.

I'm hoping my team will be able to improve on system integration in the future. We've relied pretty heavily on 80/20 the last 4 years, and while it is a powerful tool for prototyping and designing, it's disadvantages start showing during competition. However, my team will have to work very diligently on design and thinking through the whole process, partly because we don't have any team members experienced in CAD. (That last bit is my fault. I didn't do a good job of finding my replacement.)

The more I think over it, I more I think I'll recommend to my team to get the KOP chassis just as a testing platform and a fallback. Hopefully they can look at how the KOP chassis performs, and make the changes they want to make with a custom chassis in order to progress as a team.