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Unread 27-10-2014, 04:36
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Re: CNC Machining Bearing Blocks

Why are so many people in this thread so hostile towards the idea of a team making these themselves? It's clear that they have the resources and valid motivation to do so, a plan to schedule production so that it does not come at the expense of other things, and are seeking the knowledge to back these resources up.

In the past few years, after my team acquired decent manufacturing resources, it became quite rare for us to purchase something that we could make ourselves in a reasonable time frame. It's not just about providing students with a learning opportunity either. Cost was by far our most limiting factor; 1687 robots were always built on tiny budgets, but we acquired enough manufacturing ability and dedicated students/mentors to work around this and build quality robots. We also liked having to learn how to produce as much of our robot as possible inhouse. This meant we were less at the mercy of vendor availability and lead times if something broke or needed to be changed last minute (which saved us more than a few times), and gave us the ability and confidence to design in slight variants to parts we could have gotten COTs, when it was beneficial to our design. In many places, this actually saved us lots of time, since we did not have to spend time designing to fit the dimensions of COTs parts.

I know that these bearing blocks are a pretty standardized item, but I can definitely see why a team would like to save money in their fabrication, and maintain freedom to modify them as it suits their design.

Buy a man six bearing blocks, he'll have a sweet west coast drive next season. Teach a man to fixture properly on his CNC machine...


In regards to the original question, this may be of use.
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FIRST is not about doing what you can with what you know. It is about doing what you thought impossible, with what you were inspired to become.

2007-2010: Student, FRC 1687, Highlander Robotics
2012-2014: Technical Mentor, FRC 1687, Highlander Robotics
2015-2016: Lead Mentor, FRC 5400, Team WARP
2016-???: Volunteer and freelance mentor-for-hire

Last edited by Joe G. : 27-10-2014 at 05:06.