[sanddrag]

Everyone has very valid veiws. I personally think a big part of the build challenge is finding certain pre-made parts, finding suppliers, and working with suppliers. Not everything in real engineering project is custom either. Some teams have better fabricators, others have better suppliers. I don't know if I have an opinion teams building and selling parts but if a team can buy something rather than build it, why not? Just remember, there will never be a pre-made part for every crazy idea that someone has while designing a FIRST robot or anything for that matter. The fun part of the process is decideing whether you spend time designing around something you can buy, or spend time building something custom. No of-the-shelf part is ever absolutely "perfect" for the application, that is why people fabricate. But some people decide to design around the constraints instead.