Quote:
Originally Posted by snorthey
But really, unless your team is really desperate for those few extra dollars,...
For small growing teams we need to be responsible with our dollars... I have been part of three different teams each with challenges and attributes.. but all have been out classed by those with bigger bank rolls , that are more established... If one looks at the pits independently... there is a huge range of sponsorship... and tools available... It can be overwhelming for a small team to see all that one has when they have all the tools they own in one tool box carried in, while others are offloading like a rock show...
Please help us to make it affordable by all...
|
It's hard to parse this post but... Are you trying to make an argument that AndyMark isn't affordable? I think you'll find that you're going to spend more time and money trying to engineer a solution to fit a motor to a gearbox it wasn't designed for or worse you're going to spend hard-earned money and end up buying something you can't use or use mistakenly and then have to engineer around...
Honestly, I can understand teams complaining because a product from AM or Vex doesn't work due to a bad design or something (looking at you GEM gearboxes and CIM encoder widgets!) but I don't understand the complaints about cost. I've been involved with FRC since 2003 and FRC has never been cheaper than it is now for a team to be competitive.
It seems like it is becoming common to see teams not use their resources properly and then blame some grand FRC supplier conspiracy. No one is colluding to make gearboxes more expensive for FRC teams.
AndyMark, Vex, CTRE, and REV have significantly lowered the barriers to entry for FRC teams and are continuing to drive down the costs for those teams to be competitive. Are the parts expensive? Yes. Is FRC expensive? Yes. Do teams need to plan and budget accordingly? Yes. Does FIRST need to provide better resources for teams to plan with? Yeah, they probably do. Are cheaper gearboxes from China a solution? Maybe, but I doubt it.
EDIT: AliExpress is definitely a legal vendor for these gearboxes and other parts but I don't know about the motors and highly doubt the motors are legal.