Quote:
Originally Posted by GeeTwo
Your biggest problem with all this equipment is likely to be the desire to use it just because you can - spending dozens or hundreds of hours on an item that's not significantly better than a COTS item.
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I like this point. Yes, it's great to have these tools, but one has to justify whether it would be better to use COTS than custom-made. We have to consider more than just the cost of the materials -- yes, custom broaching or milling or turning can save money, but you have to consider the "cost" of training your students to perform these tasks, the actual amount of time it takes to turn around one of these tasks, the time needed to make spares in case something breaks in competition, etc.
I've learned that there are many advantages of using COTS, and I intend to put a much larger focus on using COTS parts (including the KoP drive frame, if possible) next year to reduce build time.