Quote:
Originally Posted by highlander
I'm going to assume it is the typical spiel of "look at/buy COTS options" before making your own. I don't mean to be a cynic here, but you learn a lot more from making and failing with your own than buying one off the shelf. Granted, for the first couple of iterations of the design, the COTS option would likely perform better, but it's not about the goal, it's about the journey.
During the season, the Vexpro option would be my top choice, but since this is an offseason project, I would fully recommend working on your own.
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Remember the VersaChassis isn't a perfectly functioning west coast drive in a box shipped to your front door already assembled ready to drive out of the box, or a kit with parts you put together from an instruction booklet. It's still a custom drivetrain. You design the dimensions. You choose where the holes are made and you drill them. You machine most everything and put it all together. The Versachassis components are in no way different from regular custom WCD components. The aluminum tubing is aluminum tubing. The bearing blocks are bearing blocks. The transmission is a transmission. The gussets are gussets. The difference is these parts are strategically designed to involve minimal required machinework to have a functional drive, and provide a lot more tolerance to mistakes. I think in an offseason drivetrain where your goal is to learn and test ideas, the added tolerance, the minimal required machining, and the seamless integration of allowable iteration is not only a great asset, but an achievable goal that those building their first west coast drives should strive for.
The drive enables low resource teams to build a competitive drivetrain, and high resource teams to spend less time on their drive system so they can focus on their scoring mechanismms. It allows teams doing their first west coast drive to iterate with a large tolerance window, and for the teams making their tenth west coast drive, it offers a simple, reliable system that is functionally equivalent to what is already used in west coast drives, readily available as a COTS resource.