VEX Pro Parts Feedback, 2015

[Nuttyman54]

Experience with VP items this year

The Versaframe and Clamping Gearboxes were great. We used it heavily for prototyping. We made the call early in the season to go mecanum, and we had a mecanum drive base with versaframe and clamping gearboxes by the end of week 1, which allowed the programmers to have polished drive code with gyro and accelerometer feedback before the competition base was even built.

Speaking of Mecanum Wheels, we had no failures of the 6" mecanums through 88 matches this season.

The Thunderhex was fantastic. We used it for two long shafts that spanned the width of the robot and the rounded corners made a HUGE difference in being able to actually install and maintain the systems. Last year we had a similar long shaft with multiple items pivoting off of it, and we ended up having to chop it into 3 pieces and connect it with massive shaft couplers to enable us to assemble/disassemble the pivot at competition.

Versaplanetaries gave us no issues this year, although we avoided the 100:1 reduction using 2x 10:1 combination that gave us problems last year and opted for the stronger 5:1-5:1-4:1 mix.

Desireables for the future

Originally Posted by IceStorm

Would love to see a 3/8 hex bore sprocket line come out for #25 chain. 1/2 hex is great but a lot of applications don't need a shaft that thick.

I will also add my voice that a 3/8" hex bore hubbed sprocket would be great. 1983 ended up buying steel #25 sprockets from McMaster and broaching them ourselves for our drivetrain this year.

The colsons look great, I didn't use them personally this year, but I did find myself wanting bearing bore versakeyed versions when I was playing with drivetrain designs pre-season and now again post-season. At the very least, bearing bore with the 1.875" bolt pattern would be nice for dead axle use. I find myself wanting to use colsons where I can put Versawheel DT's for the grip or wear characteristics. With how wide the colsons are, I find that it becomes nearly impossible to nicely package a dead-axle setup with a vexpro sprocket or gear once a hub is pressed in.