[Greg Needel]

If this is truly going to be an un-restricted use of aluminum and polycarbonate, why would teams even bother with the tetrix stuff?

Since weight has never been a consideration for FTC you could just cut your whole chassis out of a single flat plate of aluminum. and then make all custom mounting brackets that are ideal for your application. There have already been reports of the aluminum gears skipping teeth based on bad center to center distances, this problem could be totally avoided, now that teams could make their own custom gearboxes for FTC.

The possibilities are nearly endless and that's where I see a problem with this. Just like many other people in this thread I think that FTC should have stayed the "whats in the kit only." While it is true that some teams would always have an advantage over others, it was from a cost perspective (which accessories you could afford). Now it is a matter of machining and tools in addition to the cost of accessories.

At the same time that I think this could be a step backwards for FTC it makes sense that we should wait to see what the limitations are placed on using these components before we jump to conclusions.