What's the biggest fix you've had to do in between matches?

[Boe]

Full cRIO swap in the semifinals at northstar last year. We sat dead on the field for one match since we didnt finish imaging it before the match, but lucky 967 managed to win the match without us.

[Caitlinnnnn99]

We had to replace vex gears in our drivetrain. All the teeth had been stripped off.

[Whippet]

In Hub City, we had to cut all of the small bolt ends off our mecum rollers, replace a damaged hinge, a jaguar, and switch bumpers with one match before our next one. I now truly know the definition of chaos.

[MissRaptor]

At Lake Superior we lost our shooter in Quarter Finals because a hard hit knock off some magnets and messed up how we worked it, Didn't have a good way to get to it at the time and moving everything risked causing issues with our pick up so we opted to let it be. (We were seeded 5th and picked by the 2nd seed, won the thing. Super exciting matches) I think it would have been some sort of anxiety trying to fix it between matches. We got it fixed up at 10,000 lakes properly. There were lots of in between fixes there as well. Various things with the pick up and shooter, however I'm quite glad there were issues at the regional because we have them not only fixed but also managed to improve them as well (We won 10k Lakes as well. Also very fun regional)

[Oblarg]

So, this wasn't in-between matches (too big to possibly fix in that span of time), but it's one of the biggest mechanical failures I've ever dealt with in FRC.

Originally, our roller arm was driven by two PG188 gearmotors.

During match 4 of Greater DC, our roller arm took a significant hit while it was lowering, shearing both of the output shafts clean in half.

Due in part to lacking the requisite number of replacement parts, and in part to not wanting to repeat the failure, we decided to switch to a pneumatically-actuated arm. This entailed completely redesigning the arm's attachment to the frame, improvising connection points for the pneumatic cylinders, and significantly expanding our pneumatic system.

It took all of our pit time for the rest of qualifications to finish.

[pmangels17]

In 2012 at Duel on the Delaware, our shooter and turret fell off (about 20lbs worth of robot) between eliminations matches. The lazy susan bearing literally snapped. However, all the zipties in our and 341's pit managed to reattach the turret enough to work for auton, and we wound up winning with our amazing partners, 341. That was an interesting day.

[Jon Stratis]

This year... replacing a #25 master link. That's the only actual repair the team has had to do all season! This certainly is different from year's past... last time we made it to champs, it seemed like we were swapping out motors every single match due to a design that burned them out!

[JeremyLansing]

This year at Wisconsin we had a drivetrain issue in our last match before lunch. When we tried to drive forward power to one side of the drivetrain would only be applied intermittently. Since I thought it was a control issue I offered to stay in the pits and try to find it while everyone else got lunch. After I powered up the robot, I realized it was actually a gearbox issue. Myself and another mentor took apart the entire left side of our drivetrain and found that nobody had greased the gears, so during a pushing match, the already worn teeth had stripped off about 3/4 of the gear. Luckily we had some steel gears with us and were able to replace them and got them greased, the other side had been greased but we changed them out for steel and regreased any way.

Once some students got back we finished and reassembled the drive, but we basically did a complete rebuild of our drivetrain over lunch. Now people seem to think that aluminum gears are too weak for FRC, even though these held up for 1 1/2 regionals with NO GREASE. I am quite impressed they managed to hold up that long, and I am quite certain that aluminum gears, if grease properly are more than sufficient for FRC. I only wish I had a photo of all the shavings we dumped out of that Toughbox, it was quite hilarious.

[JCharlton]

After our first match Friday morning the robot inspectors deemed our ground clearance too low, we were causing damage to the field. While I drove across town to find some larger omni wheels back at the school the team took apart our four drives and enlarged the openings in our Octobase. Didn't quite finish before our next match, had to skip one, but it was a great show of skill and tenacity from our pit crew to do it so quickly.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by 78Grimey78

During a time out between finals match 2 and 3 we replaced two gears on our shoulder. We got pushed into the one point goal with the arm out trying to score and stripped gears. The last time we replaced them was during lunch break.

Possibly one of the top 5 most impressive repair jobs I've seen in FRC.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Possibly one of the top 5 most impressive repair jobs I've seen in FRC.

Agreed. Done on the field, in 6 minutes, including the removal of a pot that indicated arm angle. Pot was removed/restored without losing presets.

-Brando

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

Agreed. Done on the field, in 6 minutes, including the removal of a pot that indicated arm angle. Pot was removed/restored without losing presets.

-Brando

Presets were adjusted. While you and Joe were setting the bot up their STUDENT programmer came out and fixed them. Color me impressed.

[bbradf44]

There wasn't a time where people weren't in our pit trying to fix something this year at peachtree. Not our best year

[Alan Anderson]

2004 Great Lakes Regional would probably count, if it hadn't happened at the end of what turned out to be the TechnoKats' final match.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/16516


The "Year of Fried Sidecars" at 2011 Boilermaker gets my vote, but that's mostly because replacing the Digital Sidecar on that robot 1) involved removing and replacing a lot of wires with almost no room underneath a bizarre assembly of chains and sprockets, and 2) had to be done several times during the weekend.

[Jarren Harkema]

Originally Posted by JeremyLansing

This year at Wisconsin we had a drivetrain issue in our last match before lunch. When we tried to drive forward power to one side of the drivetrain would only be applied intermittently. Since I thought it was a control issue I offered to stay in the pits and try to find it while everyone else got lunch. After I powered up the robot, I realized it was actually a gearbox issue. Myself and another mentor took apart the entire left side of our drivetrain and found that nobody had greased the gears, so during a pushing match, the already worn teeth had stripped off about 3/4 of the gear. Luckily we had some steel gears with us and were able to replace them and got them greased, the other side had been greased but we changed them out for steel and regreased any way.

Once some students got back we finished and reassembled the drive, but we basically did a complete rebuild of our drivetrain over lunch. Now people seem to think that aluminum gears are too weak for FRC, even though these held up for 1 1/2 regionals with NO GREASE. I am quite impressed they managed to hold up that long, and I am quite certain that aluminum gears, if grease properly are more than sufficient for FRC. I only wish I had a photo of all the shavings we dumped out of that Toughbox, it was quite hilarious.

We had the exact same issue with our last match before lunch at MSC, the robot behaved exactly as yours did. Upon opening up the gear box we were treated with a giant pile of aluminum dust. We are so thankful for all of the teams who donated replacement gears to get us back up and running in time for the next match!