Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik
If they simply offered an unassembled kit form of the P60s, everyone would be happier. They'd save time and labor costs. We'd get gearboxes faster. And there wouldn't be this pointless wasted time of assembling gearboxes that will just need to be disassembled again.
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Sage advice. I hope some operations people from Banebots are listening.
I do recall at least a few teams buying P80 gearboxes as stacks of replacement parts that they later assembled on their own. (At least one such team posted a picture of their pile o' parts here on CD.) While I can't be sure of their motivations, I'd assume the absurd lead times that developed brought them to this solution.
If any team does decide they 'need' to stock gearboxes, I'd definitely do it in unassembled parts. That way, you can pick and choose to get the gear ratio you need. Also, when the motors change (and yes, as noted, they change quite frequently) you don't end up with a pile of spoiled inventory. While it's a pain to list out the BOM for each gearbox yourself, it's just paperwork. You could purchase those parts now for either the P80 or P60 that Banebots offers. If a motor changes next year, you should just have to buy a new motor plate for the gearbox to get everything working nicely.
Even if the parts won't be put in inventory, there's still something to be said for buying unassembled gearboxes. You get exactly what you need (shaft length and all). You avoid a greasy mess (if you had naively purchased a greased P80, for example). And, you get a great teaching tool for how gearboxes work. My team is seriously considering this approach going forward.