Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Has anyone had reliability problems with Andy Mark (part integrity, shipping time/cost, etc)???

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

We all just love AndyMark. Great stuff, great price, great service.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

They have some great products.

Remember they are a small firm and in the current crunch shipping, processing may take a little more time.

I use them as much as possible, they are part of "The Community of FIRST".

Support the community!

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Thanks alot! Looks like my team Coach will be putting in an order for 2 of AndyMark's legendary AM Shifters pretty soon, and I just wanted to make sure we were making the right decision before we threw off our build schedule with tardy deliveries or broken parts.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

yeah, they are great! we use them a lot, as do a lot of teams ;)

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

There have been a few, but they have been on specific parts. The plastic omnis had trouble a couple years ago, but that has been fixed. Last year, the KOP wheels broke under certain conditions, including a lot of use, but that too seems to have been fixed. This year, some of the Toughboxes are a little off on size on some of the units. That has normally been an easy fix.

That is all the problems that I know of. Not bad, given that AM produces a lot of trannies and wheels and such like every year. Delivery time is usually pretty good.

I'd say that AndyMark is a good idea if you like reliability.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

No.

We've been using AM products since 2006, and don't have any complaints. :cool:

We have 5ish Gen 2 shifters, and never had a problem with any of them, both servo and pneumatic. We've had issues with chain settling into the sprockets, but we're 99% it was the chain (and irregardless the chain settled in with around 20 minutes of run time).

We haven't played around with AM omniwheels very much, but in so far they've held up perfectly.

AM products are wonderful. And if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, Andy's really good about getting back to you in a very timely fashion with very helpful responses.

(And, my sig is the way it is because AM is awesome, not becuase I work for them.)

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Man, you're good. Your new handle is now "ChiefDelphiGOD". Change it. Do it! Do it! Thanks alot for all of your responses, guys!

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Nope. They are in a crunch. Last year we bought wheels from them and this year our mystery package is already shipping.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Mystery Package?

Also, what gen of shifter are you planning on buying? May I suggest the gen 2 as this one will get you as close to a super sifter as possible, that is without buying one of course.:D

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

We're going with the gen 1. Thanks fo rthe tip, ill talk to my coach

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Great quality, used them multiple times, but order early, we've had some shipping issues in the past.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

My team has ordered from AndyMark three times recently and each time their shipment went out within one business day of our order. The only faster supplier I know of is McMaster-Carr.

McMaster doesn't sell omniwheels, or two-speed shifting gearboxes, or half-inch hex aluminum hubs, or several other really cool items. So we really like AndyMark. :)

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

actually they are pretty good and really easy to set upp.
its really good considering that they came in the kit of parts:D

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

hahahahahahaha.... that would be a heck yes they are reliable. They made mine and my teams' life a lot easier for the past two build season. Thank god I don't have to spend time at the machine shop a week straight to get all the gears, sideplates, shafts done. We never had any problems with AM products.

They are also very reliable as far as service goes. Here is a little story, one of the south Florida teams ordered AM gen 1 the first year AM started to sell products. In the shipping process, the transmissions were destroyed. As soon as Andy heard about it, he shipped a new pair of transmission out... not to mention the team received them the next day.

Use as many AM product you can, you won't regret it.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

254 and 968 love AndyMark.

Great service, fast shipping, and great products.

Most imortantly, they listen. Any flaws discovered in their product by the teams are taken under consideration, and promptly corrected.

We've purchased from AndyMark the last 3 years, and we will be again this year.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Awesome stuff.
Dependable and Reliable.

Only problem is when one of the partners starts dreaming of being in a rock band and doesn't answer his phone.... ;)

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

quick shipping, great service and an outstanding product. no worries mates

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Plus, who else would demonstrate the ease of constructing their product by making an instructional video with their kids?

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Last year, we ordered a pair of AM Shifters along with wheels and sprockets. There was a delay for one part of the shifters, but shipping was plenty fast after that.

Other than that, we had zero problems.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Andymark is amazing. We have yet to order from them, but that should be changing this week. If I were part of a team that didn't have our facilities, it wouldn't even be a question of who to use.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Everything AM sells is amazing, cheap, and reliable.

There is only ONE thing you definitely don't want to buy from them, and that is the gear puller. Although why you would want that this year is beyond me :rolleyes:

It’s basically just a piece of steel tubing with a tapped hole and a 1/4-20 bolt. Not very strong... The first time we tried it the bolt broke off...

If you want a gear puller, get a good one. AM should discontinue this product.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

They are very reliable; usually ship very fast and all of their products are at reasonable prices.

Right now AM has the best products of all of the main vendors for FIRST teams.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

Our most reliable transmission to date has been the AM 2nd gen 2 spds we used in 2006. AM Quality is above and beyond the standard for FIRST.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

We used AM shifters in 2006 and 2007 with no reliability problems what-so-ever and won Galileo in 2006 and Newton and the Championship in 2007. Coincidence?

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

447 has used AM Gen 1 transmissions since they first were available for purchase. Dan Newby, our head Mechanical Engineer, describes them best as "Bullet-Proof:yikes: ." We haven't had a single problem, and we have used/abused ours during competition.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

In Andy we trust :D

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

I just have a few comments about the AM KOP wheels. We're pretty happy with them, they are high friction and low wear. Only problem we had was that all the spokes broke after repeated side load. We ran them in swerve drive, and they weren't too happy about quick 90 degree turns. Wooden inserts fixed that no problem.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

See previous post: <post640516>

-q

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

We used AndyMark Gen2 servo shifters on our robot last year. We also integrated their plastic omniwheels for IRI and Kettering Kickoff. All were and continue to be high quality, high performance products. We are a repeat customer this season.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

I'll second that. While the wheels were very good in standard configuration, we broke many hubs last year when we used them for our crab drive. However, they listened to our feedback and have beefed up the hubs/spokes to allow more side load. It is very important for a company to adapt to its clients, and they are great at doing just that. We have used AndyMark since 2005 and really like their products. Keep up the good work.

Re: Andy Mark (reliable???)
 

We had several break in our rear pair. Seems that having most of our weight in the back plus a 6WD drop center had a tendency to wear them out. I remember at SD, Mark had opportunities to see two different ones--one from practice a few days/weeks before, and one in the process of breaking (3/6 spokes were broken) right after the finals, when we removed it.

Nevertheless, we were happy with the results. I don't think we ever had to put in one of our spare Gen2s; they spent their time on the practice robot or in the spares bin.