VersaPlanetary
Used 2, both with BAG motors. One was a 7:1 reduction going to 1.75" Banebot green wheels for our intake. The other was 100:1 to our winch system. Both went together in less than 5 minutes, both worked flawlessly for 3 crazy events.
VersaHubs
We used a lot of different hubs during prototyping. Yet it turns out we only had 2 sprocket hubs on the entire production robot, and they weren't used for sprockets
.
Dog gear, anyone?
Colson Wheel Hubs
I like the WCP version over the longer VexPro version, yet both worked great. I would like to see VEX Pro (or someone we use often) start carrying Colsons so we don't pay $26 in shipping for $60 worth of wheels.
1/2" Hex Axle
We had an issue with the 36" version of these coming in bent slightly over the 36" length. We were unable to ascertain if this happened during shipping. The straighter 18" version was used on our intake, and the 36" version wound up being a nice lightweight strong set of arms for our catapult.
Framing Plates
Used for ridiculously fast prototyping. Only a couple made it onto the production bot, but they were in key positions and held up nicely.
Hex Shaft Collars
Love them. Love how thin they are, love that they work flawlessly and love that they're black.
Hex Bearings
Used a mix of AM and VEX Pro bearing on the final robot. I think we tacked them on to the orders that were going in at the time, so there was no real engineering reason for one supplier vs the other. All hex bearings worked great though.
Excited For Next Year
1885 mentors are very cautious early adopters. New technology represents the opportunity to take a risk and we limit our risk by limiting the amount of brand new product releases in a given season across all of our suppliers (VEX Pro, AM, WCP, etc). Admittedly only 25% of post-season risk evaluation is from talking to teams - the rest is based upon anecdotes from CD. We only do this because we have over-used "new" products where we apparently overlooked "proper" use in prior years. With that said, here are the "new" VEX Pro items which were thought about this year and will move into our "low risk" evaluations for next year
WCD Bearing Plates (outright excited, to be honest)
WCP DS Gearbox (final config TBD)
15mm HTD belts (general), or 9mm HTD belts for light applications
Bevel Gears for intakes