Modular Building Systems

[GeeTwo]

Thanks all! We'll keep all of this in mind as we move forward in our fabrication processes. I got approval this evening to go forward with a budget proposal to make this work, so please continue if you have more!

And OBTW, I'm presuming that you didn't realize you were breaking R15 and/or T12:

Originally Posted by maxxman

This year however after Thursday at our first regional a couple people suggested a way to make our elevator better. We just took the part off. Brought it home with us and made the changes that we needed. And not too mention that we never had a single part break through 2 regionals.

Originally Posted by R15

Teams must stay “hands-off” their bagged ROBOT elements during the following time periods:

A. between Stop Build Day and their first event,
B. during the period(s) between their events, and
C. outside of Pit hours while attending events.
Additional time is allowed as follows:
D. After Kickoff, there are no restrictions on when software may be developed.
E. On days a team is not attending an event, they may continue development of any items permitted per R17, including items listed as exempt from R17, but must do so without interfacing with the ROBOT.
F. Teams attending 2-day events may access their ROBOTS per the rules defined in the 2015 Administrative Manual Section
5.6: ROBOT Access Period - for Teams Attending District Events.
G. ROBOTS may be exhibited per 2015 Administrative Manual Section 5.5.3: Robot Displays.

Originally Posted by T12

During the event, from load-in on the first day to load-out on the final day, Teams may only produce FABRICATED ITEMS in the
pit areas or provided machine shops, as defined in the Administrative Manual, Section 4.8: The Pit, and per R17 in Section 4.6:
Material Utilization.

[akoscielski3]

For a team with the amount of tools you say you have I would highly recommend using the VEXPro VersaFrame. We use it a lot after build season, and we love using it. It is light and simple to create a mechanism with. I have also seen a fare bit of posts from teams who have built a complete robot using it, and found that their robot's competitiveness increased immensely due to it's reliability (you still need a good strategy though!).

Here is a quick link to the website for VersaFrame.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

(you still need a good strategy though!)

Yes, we're working on improvements there, too. We got about half the team to Karthik's presentation at CMP, and we're going to create a Game Analysis, Strategy, and Scouting group (though I'm not sold on the GASS acronym) which will be a cross section of departments. After game reveal, this group will break down the rules (especially scoring) to help formulate the requirements/goals for design. They will also prowl CD looking for ideas and doing "advance scouting" throughout the season. This group will incorporate the drive team, and will design the controls - to date, our controls usually reflect what is easiest for the programmers to code rather than what lets the drivers work most effectively.
Finally, at competition, having the scouts and drive team work together from the get-go should help both with qualification strategy sessions and with alliance selection; poor communication and lack of trust between what little scouting we had and the drive team was an issue in previous years; it worked a bit better this year because of personalities, and we want to make it work by design.

[Jacob Bendicksen]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

(though I'm not sold on the GASS acronym)

SAGS?

[GeeTwo]

Thanks, everyone, you've helped me convince the team to try this out. I'm trying to put together a budget and parts list for a versaframe build project, but I can't seem to find any documents that are complete enough to make a parts list, or even a complete tools list (e.g. hole saw size). Would someone please direct me to where I can find answers to the following (and follow-on) questions?

• Are there any documents which show how the versaframe blocks come together?
• It appears that you must drill large holes in the tubing for axles to pass through. How large they should be? Where they should be centered? What are the tolerances?
• Are the clamping gearbox, clamping bearing and WCD bearings alternatives for or must they be used in conjunction with a face bearing mount? I can find pictures of the pieces either completely isolated or completely integrated, but nowhere in between.
• How do the various gears, sprockets, and wheels say on the shafts - is it strictly shaft collar based, or do I need some more hardware?

[Nyle]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

• Are there any documents which show how the versaframe blocks come together?
• It appears that you must drill large holes in the tubing for axles to pass through. How large they should be? Where they should be centered? What are the tolerances?
• Are the clamping gearbox, clamping bearing and WCD bearings alternatives for or must they be used in conjunction with a face bearing mount? I can find pictures of the pieces either completely isolated or completely integrated, but nowhere in between.
• How do the various gears, sprockets, and wheels say on the shafts - is it strictly shaft collar based, or do I need some more hardware?

For the clearance holes we've used a one inch hole saw in the drill press (by hand would probably work too as long as you're careful that it's straight). We usually just put them vertically centered on the tube. It doesn't need to be super accurate, off the top of my head +/- 1/8" feels like it'd be plenty, but I'd have to run some math to verify that; I don't recall vexpro publishing a number for it anywhere. If you end up drilling the hole a bit off it's pretty easy to feel if the shaft is rubbing against it and a little bit of filing will fix it.

The clamping gearbox and clamping bearing blocks do everything needed to hold the bearing, just stick them on a piece of 2x1 with a hole for the shaft to go through and you're good to go. Do be aware if you're using the plastic ones that it's easy to over-tighten the bolts on them and strip out the part that stops the nut from spinning, at which point removing it is basically impossible without destroying it in the process. Additionally, you'll need to make sure that you have something in place to stop them from sliding along the 2x1, the friction from just clamping them on isn't enough to keep it from sliding during heavy use; they have four holes to go through the tube for doing this, I'd highly recommend marking out these holes with calipers or some other nice measuring tool and doing them on a drill press. Be aware that while they do come with bolts to go through the clamping holes, there are not enough for all of the other holes, so you'll want to either buy some to the right length, or be ready to cut down a bunch of bolts.

Versablocks go on about the same as the plastic clamping bearing blocks, but don't have holes for bolts going through the tube (although I suppose you could put a few through the pattern that is on them). The WCP Cam works quite well for them if you need to tension chains—the hole for it doesn't need to be particularity high precision either.

I don't have any experience with the WCP bearing blocks, but it looks like you might need something to hold the bearing in it; I guess that could be done by just having spacers on the shaft hold it in, but there might be a better way to do it.

For holding everything on the shafts together all you need is collars. Vexpro's delrin spacers are nice to have around in a variety of sizes. If it won't be under significant load 3D printed spacers can work too. We will sometimes drill and tap the end of a shaft and hold everything on with a bolt and a washer; this can be a bit of a pain to do, but it holds everything on the shaft more securely than collars (we've occasionally had collars slide off of shafts if there's significant load along the length of the shaft.

[GeeTwo]

Thanks, Nyle! I'll digest it this evening, but it looks to be enough to puzzle out the rest.

[Knufire]

You also might want to take a look at this webpage: http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/ex...ides/?ref=tile

[Aren_Hill]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Thanks, everyone, you've helped me convince the team to try this out. I'm trying to put together a budget and parts list for a versaframe build project, but I can't seem to find any documents that are complete enough to make a parts list, or even a complete tools list (e.g. hole saw size). Would someone please direct me to where I can find answers to the following (and follow-on) questions?

• Are there any documents which show how the versaframe blocks come together?
• It appears that you must drill large holes in the tubing for axles to pass through. How large they should be? Where they should be centered? What are the tolerances?
• Are the clamping gearbox, clamping bearing and WCD bearings alternatives for or must they be used in conjunction with a face bearing mount? I can find pictures of the pieces either completely isolated or completely integrated, but nowhere in between.
• How do the various gears, sprockets, and wheels say on the shafts - is it strictly shaft collar based, or do I need some more hardware?

Be sure to check out the drawings at the bottom of each project page, also the application and guides page has some instructions for some drivetrains to get a feel for the system.

-Aren

[Mike Marandola]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Thanks, everyone, you've helped me convince the team to try this out. I'm trying to put together a budget and parts list for a versaframe build project, but I can't seem to find any documents that are complete enough to make a parts list, or even a complete tools list (e.g. hole saw size). Would someone please direct me to where I can find answers to the following (and follow-on) questions?

• Are there any documents which show how the versaframe blocks come together?
• It appears that you must drill large holes in the tubing for axles to pass through. How large they should be? Where they should be centered? What are the tolerances?
• Are the clamping gearbox, clamping bearing and WCD bearings alternatives for or must they be used in conjunction with a face bearing mount? I can find pictures of the pieces either completely isolated or completely integrated, but nowhere in between.
• How do the various gears, sprockets, and wheels say on the shafts - is it strictly shaft collar based, or do I need some more hardware?

This guide can answer a lot of your questions.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

.. Would someone please direct me to where I can find answers to the following (and follow-on) questions?

Originally Posted by Nyle

For the clearance holes ..

The clamping gearbox and clamping bearing blocks do everything needed to hold the bearing, ..

Versablocks go on about the same as the plastic clamping bearing blocks, but ..

I don't have any experience with the WCP bearing blocks, ..

For holding everything on the shafts together all you need is collars..

Originally Posted by Knufire

You also might want to take a look at this webpage: http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/ex...ides/?ref=tile

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

Be sure to check out the drawings at the bottom of each project page, also the application and guides page has some instructions for some drivetrains to get a feel for the system.

Originally Posted by Mike Marandola

This guide can answer a lot of your questions.

Thanks all, these certainly cover all the ground I can think of. I thought I had been all over the Vex site, but completely missed the examples-guides portal page.