pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

Video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPeA94gEtp0

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

Very well done guys. Should have expected though... kudos again :)

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

On Wednesday at 2PM I sent 75 distinct parts (not counting multiples of the same part) to our sheet metal shop. This represents a new record for any team that has built out of our shop.

To fabricate these parts in the quantities we requested the shop will use 18 4'x8' sheets of metal (0.625" thick, 0.090" thick, and 0.125" thick.)

The total run time to laser/punch these parts is approximately 24 hours. Most of this run time will be done during off-hours.

All the parts will be delivered on Friday evening before the Robowrangler's Saturday meeting.

We love having the unconditional support and sponsorship of Innovation First. We love getting "above and beyond" support from the folks over at Metal Solutions. We love having the ability to run our team in a way that focuses on student prototyping and design such that we can spend lots of time thinking, and only a little time building. We are spoiled, and we know it.

I know the 148 students love touring the Metal Solutions facility and learning more about sheet metal. I've had the opportunity to take a few guests through the shop as well (I think Meredith Novak knows more about sheet metal then she EVER wanted to know.) We thought that some people within the community would enjoy learning a bit more about this great manufacturing technique.

Enjoy!
-John

PS - If you ever visit Greenville, TX -- call me up and I'll get you a tour.

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

I cried! That was beautiful.

Thanks.

Joe J.

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

Superb :cool:

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

Kind of hating you guys right now :)

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

Very well done. Looking forward to the next episode

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

Your robots always look like works of art, so beautiful.... and yes I am jealous lol.

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

This video is amazing!

Team 1114 has been fortunate enough to have the support of Innovation FIRST since 2008, and has been using the sheet metal facilities since 2009. This year we sent 21 distinct parts (I know, we're slackers compared to 148. :P) to the Robowranglers on Sunday afternoon. These models were prepped and sent to the sheet metal shop on Monday morning. They arrived at Governor Simcoe SS on Thursday at 5:00 PM. (Even more impressive considering that pesky international border which separates our teams.) The quick turn around and high quality parts are astounding. IFI is definitely the coolest sponsor we have ever had and are immensely thankful for everything they and the folks at Metal Solutions do for us.

Thanks to John and the rest of Robowrangler crew for putting this together. The posted CAD models of Tumbleweed and Tornado, the whitepaper on the Engineering Design Process and this video are shining examples of why John and crew are role models for us all.

P.S. Now this video is what I call a 5 star teaser!

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

Thank you. 148 and 217's bent sheet metal parts have inspired me as long as I've been in FRC. I love How It's Made too, so it's pretty much perfect. :)

Now, as for the picture and teaser stuff... I noticed the part numbers on one thing labeled for the Robowranglers was TC-2010-300-004. TC? ThunderChickens? Why would Robowrangler parts be marked with a TC part number? Twins?

You can also see the "standard" nine sided wheel in the picture.

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

IFI and MetalSolutions make parts for the ThunderChickens and have been since 2006. For that we are grateful. We send the part files to John and he gets them made. This year, with me actually at IFI, it was much easier to get the ThunderChicken parts made. All the parts have the Robowrangler sheet format as they have a special drawing method for bent parts.

217's part numbering starts with TC-2010 and 148's part numbering starts with RW-2010. This year both teams' parts were manufactured at the same time. As it has been since 2007, 217 and 148 have collaborated. Each year we have some parts that are identical and some that are not. It varies from year to year with some years having more identical parts than others.

As for this year ... well you will just have to wait and see!

As for the video, that was all John and Brandon Martus. Pretty sweet.

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

Thank you for the glimpse into your amazing manufacturing facilities!

That has to be an amazing and unique design experience for the students on your team. I would have loved the opportunity to see all of that when I was in high school. There are so many construction possibilities!

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

It really is amazing to see the work that goes into creating these beautiful machines. Thanks for the preview and I can't wait to see the bots!

I am definitely looking forward to the next video.

Re: pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots
 

I'm curious. Which brand/part number of press in threaded inserts do you use? 971 tried PEM nuts in 08, and came away less than impressed.

Thanks,
Austin Schuh