[techtiger1]

Ken first of all great thread topic. I think overall most teams build most of the robot by themselves. Some of the posts on here refer to sending some parts out but not having the whole thing machined by someone else. This is sometimes and many times the case with some teams. One thread in particular about a transmission fabrication really stood out. My team did custom gearboxes for the first year this year and as a person who is involved in learning about manufacturing I will like to say a few things. People have no idea sometimes when building a transmission how tight tolerances have to be in order for it work and how to machine things to those type of tolerances, this takes a person with skill and prior knowledge to pull such a feat off. Sometimes many people as in the case of a transmission for a robot. Also what someone posted earlier about how in the real word there are engineers, technicians and fabricators is absolutely correct. My team works with Sonny's a car wash factory and when I go there I get to to see all these things under one roof and it's amazing to see .

I like the thread,
- Drew