WITH HOLDING

[ToddF]

Originally Posted by FrankJ

You disassemble a banebox or vex planetary gear box, grease it, put it back together, Is it no longer COTs item?

Of course not. You purchased a gearbox. (COTS) You purchased grease. (COTS) You expended time and effort to assemble the grease to the gearbox. That makes it a non-COTS assembly.

Originally Posted by FrankJ

Attach a cots motor to it. That makes it an assembly?

Of course it does.

Originally Posted by FrankJ

What if the same assembly is available for purchase (COTS)?

AndyMarks sells am-0914, a gearmotor which is the assembly of their motor am-2161 and their gearbox am-0939. You can purchase the motor and gearbox separately, assemble them, and have an am-0914 gearmotor, which is a single COTS item on your BOM. Banebots sells PG60 gearboxes assembled, but ungreased. They also sell RS550 motors, which you can assemble to the PG60 gearbox. They do NOT sell a COTS gearmotor that is the assembly of the two. So, if you buy these seperately, and assemble them, you have not created a COTS item, you have created a non-COTS assembly of three (including grease) COTS items.

Originally Posted by FrankJ

While most inspectors will pass small violations (pinion pressed on a motor) obviously there is a limit IE assembling a COTs chassis is for beyond this.

The rules make no such distinction.

Originally Posted by FrankJ

This is an area I wish the GDC would clarify in future years.

We wouldn't need to wait for future years if someone would submit a question to QA. (I can't do this myself.)

Believe me, I will be delighted if pre-assembly of COTS kits becomes legal. You can bet we will leverage this to the max, if it becomes legal. What troubles me is that it sounds like some teams have already decided the rule isn't to their liking and have chosen to sidestep it.

If I ordered a heathkit shortwave radio, and assembled it per the manufacturers instructions, could I return the fully assembled radio to heathkit and expect a refund? Of course not. I have changed the kit from the state it was in when I purchased it. Could I purchase a VEXpro gearbox, assemble it, use it for a year, then return it? Of course not. It's no longer in the COTS state. Could I purchase a VEXpro gearbox as a spare, and return it to VEX, unassembled, after competition season ended, if I didn't need it? That wouldn't be kind to VEX, but if I returned it in its COTS state, they would probably accept the return.