[ahecht]

I know how you feel, we are in the same situation. We just made sure that we had a simple design which required no machining (Okay, we have one machined part, but it could've been done on a drill press). Our frame was made from bosch extrusion, so we only needed an allen wrench set and some locktite to assemble it. We even used large amounts of wood, since it is cheap, light, strong, and easy to work.

As for money, we are also in the same position. We were only able to raise $4000, and the school had to loan us the rest of the money for the entry fee (and they do want it back soon!). I expect it to be easier to get major sponsors now that we have a robot. My family personally loaned the team around $2000 for materials, and I am hoping that once we get our bot back, that maybe we can be repayed. Again, for the same reason, I don't think that fundraising will be as hard for either of us next year, since we will have some experience.