Worst Deals in FIRST Choice

[seg9585]

We get a lot of great things on FIRST Choice, and today's start of window shopping opportunity gives us a great chance to figure out the best deals (actual value vs # of points) or highest demand items which will surely sell out fast.

However, looking through the list I always find some of the items downright laughable (ie, who would ever blow their credits on that??)

So I ask the community, how would you totally waste your 600 FIRST Choice credits?

My thought is 6 empty tool bags @ 100 credits each.
Maybe a slightly worse deal than purchasing 120 plastic thrust washers

[John Retkowski]

Seems like the 7pc ratcheting wrench set is over priced. I could see it being useful for a first year team, but I would personally just go out and buy a set.

[AdamHeard]

There are some better/worse deals in there... but it seems like they nominally shot for about $1 per credit.

There are outliers with less functionality or retail value, like the old control system components.

[asid61]

Shaft couplers, depending on your situation. If you have a lathe/mill, you can churn several out in an hour or two. Ideally I'd just buy a longer shaft.
EDIT: AC-DC 12v 1a wall adpaters. They're really cheap on ebay ($2 each), and the cost offsets the "unreliability". I've never had an issue with one.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by asid61

Shaft couplers, depending on your situation. If you have a lathe/mill, you can churn several out in an hour or two. Ideally I'd just buy a longer shaft.

Nooooooooooooooo!

They're so cheap, don't abuse your students by making them.

Mcmaster and Vex have them for a great price.

[asid61]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Nooooooooooooooo!

They're so cheap, don't abuse your students by making them.

Mcmaster and Vex have them for a great price.

Depends on the style. The clamping ones on Choice are like $40 each on mcmaster.
The ones that are literally a tube with setscrews are $10, but I'm our team's machinist- and I'm cheap. I could make the setscrew ones in 10-15 minutes, depending on the number. Less if I had a rookie to tap them.
Now collars, those I would buy.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by asid61

Depends on the style. The clamping ones on Choice are like $40 each on mcmaster.
The ones that are literally a tube with setscrews are $10, but I'm our team's machinist- and I'm cheap. I could make the setscrew ones in 10-15 minutes, depending on the number. Less if I had a rookie to tap them.
Now collars, those I would buy.

What...? No they're not.

3/8" shaft

9946K13 $2.17 set screw
6157K13 $2.28 one piece clamp
6436K133 $4.96 two piece clamp

Prices don't increase that much as diameter increases.

[asid61]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

What...? No they're not.

3/8" shaft

9946K13 $2.17 set screw
6157K13 $2.28 one piece clamp
6436K133 $4.96 two piece clamp

Prices don't increase that much as diameter increases.

Shaft couplings, not shaft collars. Especially if they're for different diameter shafts, couplings can run upwards of $40.
Collars are super cheap. I would totally buy those.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by asid61

Shaft couplings, not shaft collars. Especially if they're for different diameter shafts, couplings can run upwards of $40.
Collars are super cheap. I would totally buy those.

Oh, you mean the beam couplers. Sorry.

You can make a straight coupler, but it'd be a lot of work to get a helical beam coupler made in shop.

There are knock off brand ones on ebay and amazon for cheaper. A lot of diy CNC suppliers stock them as well.

They're not real commonly used in FRC, the size and weight are somewhat prohibitive.

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Oh, you mean the beam couplers. Sorry.

You can make a straight coupler, but it'd be a lot of work to get a helical beam coupler made in shop.

There are knock off brand ones on ebay and amazon for cheaper. A lot of diy CNC suppliers stock them as well.

They're not real commonly used in FRC, the size and weight are somewhat prohibitive.

You can get $6 beam couplers with asymmetric shaft sizes from China, you just have to wait about 3 - 4 weeks

They felt to have about the same strength and deformation-resistance as the $40 ones I had used before, but that doesn't really say much.

[nathannfm]

I like how you can buy a bag of IGUS products "fc15-102" for 10 credits, or you can buy each of the individual components for 5 or 10 credits...

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

They're not real commonly used in FRC, the size and weight are somewhat prohibitive.

Exception: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/3015

In which case it was the perfect solution... minimal weight increase and pretty much plug and play.

So yes, the certainly have valid FRC uses.

[EricH]

I'd call the worst deal the 200 credits for a Classmate. If I had absolutely no other laptop that was usable for the drivers' station and no way to get one, I might think about it. Maybe. The only way it could be worse? If teams were allowed to get three.


The tool bag deal I can see being a bit steep, but the tool bags can come in handy if you have tools for them.

[Michael Hill]

The Microsoft camera is a pretty bad deal. 50 credits for a $21 camera.

[seg9585]

Originally Posted by EricH

I'd call the worst deal the 200 credits for a Classmate. If I had absolutely no other laptop that was usable for the drivers' station and no way to get one, I might think about it. Maybe. The only way it could be worse? If teams were allowed to get three.

The classmates are useful if a student wants to program but has no laptop available. The laptops are small but they're perfectly good for programming or researching tools and parts on the internet. And it would be a last-minute backup for a driver station if your primary station laptop malfunctions (this happened to us last year at our regional when our laptop decided to stop communicating over Ethernet)