Using local companies to make parts for us
 

Question #2:
We found the plans for a gear box posted on the Chief Delphi site. They
were posted by another team. As we do not have a machine shop at our
school, a local company has offered to make the parts for us and we will
assemble it and use it in our robot. Is this permitted by the rules?

Re: Using local companies to make parts for us
 

Parts are allowed to be bought off shelf, or custom manufactured by students or sponsors. Therefore, this is legal.

We have a local machine shop sponsor that does our transmission each year.

Re: Using local companies to make parts for us
 

Just remember to properly account for the cost.

Re: Using local companies to make parts for us
 

See the manual, specifically <R41>, <R46> (the Part Use Flowchart), and 5.3.4.4 Additional Parts - Cost Determination. Unless the machine shop is officially a team sponsor, you need to count the fabrication labor in the cost accouting you provide to the inspectors, even if the labor is donated.