[camtunkpa]

Originally Posted by Jack Jones

RE: This Post

If we take the ’06 VENDOR rule in its entirety, it is clear that the vendor guarantees delivery to ALL FIRST teams. It does not say that the vendor is allowed to limit production based upon a preseason interest inventory. On the contrary, it says that the vendor must not limit supply. The way I see it, if the supplier fails to meet demand, then they no longer meet the requirements, which leads me to believe that the mechanism is not fit to use on a FIRST competition robot.

I do not believe that the Breco-Flex belts can be considered a FABRICATED ITEM in this case because the belts would not be cut to a “custom” length. They would be a “standard” length; I.E., made to fit Outback drives. So, I do not see how Outback can pass the buck to Breco-Flex in order to extend the delivery period.

It’s times like this that I’m glad I’m not one of the powers that be. Because if I were, and Outback failed to deliver, then there would be a bunch of teams stuck with tracks they couldn’t use.

I want to start by saying I come from team 222. My opinion is my own and may or may not reflect the view of my team. As a whole on 222 we manufacture as many parts as we can. We have not used any AndyMark products or kit-bot parts or anything like that.(not ragging on ay teams that do either...keep reading) With that said FIRST has seen alot of changes in my 10 years of involvement. Robots went from running on R-NETS and cordless drill battery packs to what they are today. The technology that has developed in FIRST is incredible. Until the 2005 season teams had to construct robots from the ground up. In the past there was no kit frame....there was no kit transmission. In 2005 things changed. There was an easy to use kit frame and drive train, there was AndyMark, and most importantly there were way more extremely competitive teams. The level of game play has risen incredibly. You may be saying so what if the game play increases. Well how much more excited about robotics are students that have a working and not only working, but kick ... robot? When the kids are more excited that means more retention of new FIRSTers and growth amongst teams. Whether people in FIRST want to admit it or not, a team's success and growth depends on the performance of the team. To wrap things up. It seems like there is strong division as to whether vendor products are good or bad for FIRST. I think that question is answered differently by every team, but I think it is important all teams have an avenue to be competitive.

Okay, off my soap box and back on topic.

It sounds like Outback is taking a big hit here. Let me add some fuel to the fire. What if Outback just makes the assembly and leaves it up to teams to get their own belts. The belts from Brecoflex still have a 2-3 week lead time. With that said it's a shame to see Outback, who's trying to give teams an excellent choice for drivetrain, being severely scrutinized. Let's show this company some GP for what they are trying to bring to the table rather then possibly scaring them away from offering any products for FRC teams.

I apologize for the length of this post, but I wanted to do my post justice. Good Luck to everyone in the upcoming season!