This seems pretty straight forward (based on the 2004 rules):
- If you actually buy the part, it is okay to do so before the 6 weeks -- as long as it is NOT modified before kickoff, you can throw it on the robot.
- If you MAKE or MODIFY anything before kickoff, it can't go on the robot.
These is no confusion in my mind. This seems to be what FIRST intended.
Copying a COTS part still involves MAKING something (or MODIFYING something) and would therefore be illegal.
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Originally Posted by Natchez
Finally, I thought that it would be a good idea to contact local machine shops and see if they would manufacture a bunch of AM Transmissions and we would just give them to the Greater Houston Teams (about 15). We would parse the work out to several shops and each team in Houston could be shifting by January 10th. We would also set up tours of the machine shops for the students to see exactly how the trannies were built. Since machine shops in Houston traditionally have a slow period in December, this would be a perfect opportunity to introduce the shops to FIRST and get them involved. Of course, you know the long term plan: get them to support a team. A special thanks to AM for releasing the drawings or this idea could never get off the ground. Regardless whether the teams can use them on their '05 robot, I am going to initiate the effort hopefully to help some teams out.
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It's interesting to note:
I've done some cost comparisons and -- making your own version of the AndyMark shifter isn't that much cheaper than just buying one.
The cost of gears/raw stock is about half as much as the AndyMark tranny costs. The difference being that you save TONS of manufacturing time buying the AndyMark Trannys.
Of course... this is where many people would argue: "But our students will get more out of it, if they actually build the trannys themselves." This discussion isn't about that. We've had that debate before... and I don't care to see a rehash of it now. Everyone agrees to disagree. (I disagree STRONGLY with that above statement.)
It all boils down to economics...
Run the cost numbers yourself:
$360 seems more and more reasonable, every time I do so.
John