Quote:
Originally posted by D. Gregory
It was an exact replica. I just used made my own wood flanges. [...] My team was dirt poor and couldn't afford flanges so I had to improvise. [...]
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At my old "rookie" team last year, we had virtually no cash as well, AND we were short on labor. The way we handled that one was a special fund raising trick I came up with: "Material Open Account Sponsors". BEFORE the contest, you find a string of local stores, such as a local plumbing supply, hardware store, lumber yard, builder's electrical supply (wire), plastic supply (sheet stock), hobby store (Dremel stuff), carpet store, industrial supply (safety goggles), etc... For each CLASS of "thing" you need, simply find a few local vendors.
You now ask each one for the donation of an "open account" ticket, valued at about $200-$500, for "materials to be specified later". They love it. They're involved, they write off the retail, and it only costs them their TRUE COST, which is a FRACTION of retail. In addition, the school is a govt agency, and thus donations to it are tax deductible. What a deal... Around here I've found $200 is about the average to shoot for per vendor, with $100 the absolute minimum, and $500 the max. (YMMV...)
You have your PR person keep them informed of "their team's progress", and thank them by putting them on your shirt back, invite them to the Sponsor Thank You dinner, and/or send them a frame-able certificate of appreciation. We collected about 20 MOAS's BEFORE Kickoff.
Worse case, during the build, each night after build is done the "signature adult" can run and fetch whatever raw materials we're short on or missing from the appropriate vendor, and keeps an eye on the account levels. As soon as the $200 (or whatever) is used up, we're done with that vendor, shift to our "alternate", or start paying. This gave us more time to fund raise, AND helped guide our build technology so we weren't trying to make things out of stuff we couldn't afford as a rookie team.
It didn't cost us a CENT out of pocket to build our goal, because we simply tapped three of our prearranged accounts: a plumbing supply account for the flanges and pipes (THEY pulled from a warehouse within days), a lumber yard account for a couple sheets of plywood, and the casters and box of bolts as a piece of our hardware store sponsor's open account. We didn't mess with the perimeter flange since we weren't depending on it, and thus reserved more hardware store credit for the robot. But we could've done that too if we wished.
BTW, Our practice playfield carpet was also a donation. A local carpet store simply donated a remnant with similar nap to the playfield carpeting. Same with the safety goggles, etc... We even had MOAS's that we never tapped, but still added them to our shirts, etc...
Congratulations on building with what you could find at hand. Great job!
However, my moral is: If your team is "cash poor" AND "labor poor", it STILL doesn't mean you're stuck. If you get creative, you can find OTHER ways to obtain the parts you need make something.
- Keith