[the_short1]

I totally agree, i see a lot of parts that are simply purchased from the store and strapped on, and it underminds the whole .. lets be on the forefront of engineering, that is why we custom made our 2 traction wheels, and custom shooting wheel rather then simply purchasing them. Also we find they save a lot of weight!

Its hard to balance letting a student do it and a mentor doing it, i know, especially since you have to spend so much time teaching the student to do it, but an idea: if they do it horribly wrong/really bad that it has to be redone, by a mentor this time, both tasks get done,, the student gets experience and the final product is good. Thats still better then just the mentor doing it from the start!