[Travis Covington]

I'd have to agree with Dave regarding the planetary problems. We were the ones he mentioned who added the ball bearings. 2 simple counterbores, and 2 ABEC 5 or 7 bearings greatly increased the planetary gearboxes performance. Side loading was no longer an issue, and they only improved with time as the gears lapped themselves in a little better. I would happily pay an additional $20 per planetary if this modification were made prior to purchase. Just something to consider.

We also had an instance of the gear siezing on the pin (on 2 seperate gearboxes, within minutes of eachother.) I also know team 254 had 2 of their gears sieze on the pins as well. It didn't happen to us in competition, but it worried us greatly. I know 254 removed them for a few matches in the finals at portland because they weren't 100% convinced that it wasn't going to sieze again. This was a fairly big concern, as Dave mentioned, because it completely locked up the entire drivetrain and in turn immobilized the robot.