Help us fill the gaps in the "Kit Of Parts"

[CMBrandon]

We are currently in talks with FIRST to get some of our items in the Kit Of Parts. So... what would you like to see from Cooler Master in the KOP? We make all kinds of fun stuff so if there is something you think would be beneficial to have during the build season let me know!

http://www.coolermaster.com/

[frcguy]

Honestly, I'm fine with anything you guys make. No joke, it's all really awesome!

[TDav540]

Fans. LEDs are an added bonus, but overall, a good, reliable, effective fan. If you do decide to use LEDs, choose Red

[Tom Line]

It would be nice to see a couple inexpensive and sturdy snap-on brackets that can hold common computer fans on to various motors - the CIMs, 550s, and 775 pros.

[Knufire]

In terms of products that CM already carries, I concur with Tom. Whatever high pressure 40mm or 60mm fans you have with design for a 3D printed that teams can make themselves to mount these to standard 550 and 775 sized motors. This could have many applications in other hobby markets outside of FRC as well.

Thanks for the support!

[The Swaggy P]

Originally Posted by Knufire

In terms of products that CM already carries, I concur with Tom. Whatever high pressure 40mm or 60mm fans you have with design for a 3D printed that teams can make themselves to mount these to standard 550 and 775 sized motors. This could have many applications in other hobby markets outside of FRC as well.

Thanks for the support!

I've made 3D Printed fan brackets before, and I'd love to see something like that in the KOP.

But why stop at fans? Sealed liquid cooling anyone?

[SoftwareBug2.0]

I admire the keyboards with per-key lighting. I'd never realized that was available before today and it seems like it seems like those models might be very useful as part of a robot's operator interface.

[polytechnique]

This year we had a lot of issues keeping our shooter's BAG motors cool throughout even one match. Some form of heat sink and fan to attach to smaller motors (larger motors don't seem to have as many heat issues over one match cycle) would be awesome.

Would have certainly saved us the pain of smoking both simultaneously during a quarterfinals match. We did make somewhat of a jury-rigged solution out of a couple of the smaller fans that have shown up in previous years, but they couldn't possibly match up to a proper heat sink and fan cooler.

[Sperkowsky]

In 2015 Nvidia donated Quadro 4000's to the virtual KOP. So computer parts donations are viable.

What I think would be cool is a bank of 5-10 cherry mx blue keys for custom driver consoles.

[pilleya]

Just to be clear, CIM’s can’t really be cooled effectively with fans, there is little to no point using fans on CIM’s during matches, but between matches they can help, but hollow-bolt CIM cooling is even better.
Most computer case or CPU fans are designed to reduce noise, and not designed for maximum airflow. When selecting a fan for cooling motors it is more primarily about the amount of airflow. If you do choose to use fans to cool motors, it would be best to go for extreme flow fans such as those for servers. I purchased a 120mm server fan from Delta Electronics, that is extremely powerful and draws 4 amps at 12volts and provides an airflow of 254CFM, the fan cost me about $8USD from Aliexpress but it is also extremely noisy( not that this matters much). The most powerful Cooler Master fan which is 120mm looks to be about 85CFM( as far as I can tell from the website), but they do have LED’s which is nice .

I recently designed a 3D printable active cooling system for the 775pro which ensures continuous cooling even at stall. It utilises a 40mm server fan, again a Delta Electronics fan which can move 25+CFM, I don’t see any 40mm or 60mm fans available from CM. The normal KOP fans( 40mm) don’t give out a lot of airflow at all so wouldn’t be good for this purpose.

Example of were to purchase this fan: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Delta-FFB...-/172116043601

A heat sink or fan mounted to the motor( BAG, 550,775) will help reduce heat build-up over the long term, but unless the heat-sink is made of a super-conductor, it won’t be able to draw the heat away from the motor when it needs most to be, when the motor is at stall. With the 775pro you have a roughly 3.9second delay from when the motor is stalled and when it burns up. This is because the motor is air-cooled relying on a fan, connected to the armature and thus the output shaft to draw air through the motor casing from the front ports to the rear.

There are already quite a few low-cost COTs heatsinks and fan combo’s which can fit onto 550’s and BAG’s( mainly aimed at the R/C market) eg. http://www.integy.com/st_main.html?p...8#.Vz2jkPl97IU

The system I designed, connected the central and rear ports to duct which had a 40mm fan on it, similar in design the EBMpapst’s ICE box rs775 cooler that was included in the 2014 KOP( as far as I am aware). But with the 40mm fan at the rear, and 3D printable. I haven’t had a lot of time lately, so I haven’t had time to test it, but I will hopefully test it in the coming months, with some of the used 775pros we have. I want to do proper testing on it to ensure it actually helps, and improve the design if necessary before I release the CAD.

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

In 2015 Nvidia donated Quadro 4000's to the virtual KOP. So computer parts donations are viable.

Just to clarify, the Quadro’s were donated to FIRST choice, the virtual KOP is the Voucher system.

Teams will definitely want different things depending on their level of experience and their existing resources.

I would suggest either donation to FIRST choice or through the virtual KOP scheme( allowing teams to use their voucher, to purchase a product they want from your website etc.)

It is really good the Cooler-Master is getting involved in FIRST, in fact I hadn’t heard of you before you started your Chief-Delphi presence now I’m thinking of buying on of your mechanical keyboards for personal use.

If you’d like to talk further, PM me I’d love to help you guys find a method that would work best/well for the FIRST/FRC community.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by pilleya

Just to clarify, the Quadro’s were donated to FIRST choice, the virtual KOP is the Voucher system.

Don't want to mess this thread up but figured id say that the Virtual KOP encompasses First Choice.

[pilleya]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Don't want to mess this thread up but figured id say that the Virtual KOP encompasses First Choice.

According to this page, FIRST classifies the Virtual KOP and FIRST choice as different things

http://www.firstinspires.org/resourc...6-kit-of-parts

The Kit of Parts (KoP) is split into 3 parts, available to teams through a variety of sources: the Kickoff Kit, the Virtual Kit, and FIRST Choice.

[Conor Ryan]

775pro, needs cooling options and some degree of EM shielding.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by CMBrandon

We are currently in talks with FIRST to get some of our items in the Kit Of Parts. So... what would you like to see from Cooler Master in the KOP? We make all kinds of fun stuff so if there is something you think would be beneficial to have during the build season let me know!

http://www.coolermaster.com/

The biggest thing would be 12V fans. FIRST's rules on fans have historically been pretty restrictive (see R29), and take nothing away from ebmpapst but their products are both expensive, small, and hard to find. I appreciate that no fan is going to make much difference on a CIM motor during the match, but if I can install them legally on the robot I can have them working in the pits while the programmers do their thing. From my time racing R/C cars, I know that kind of downtime with a fan blowing on a small-can motor does make a difference.

The most common FRC motors, if this helps you size your fans:

http://www.andymark.com/Motor-p/am-0255.htm (99.99999% of robots use CIMs)
http://www.andymark.com/Gearmotor-p/am-2971.htm (very close in size to the 775pro below)
http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/mo.../217-3371.html (same mounting interface and diameter as the CIMs, just shorter)
http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/mo...onics/bagmotor (been popular for small manipulators, but kinda took a backseat to the 775pro this year)
http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/mo...tronics/775pro (probably the biggest heat-giver-offer other than CIMs, popular for the power)

Noise levels are irrelevant to this application--the crowd and music will be louder. Basic black fans are totally plenty for me, but if you donate fans to the kit you'll make a lot of people happy (and surely sell some product too) by asking FIRST to legalize the LED versions as well.

Hope this helps!

Edit: I should add that a good 12V bench top power supply has been great for our team this year. Doesn't have to power the whole robot, just supply enough to run some small motors and the robot electronics. I'll have to ask my programming lead what his was rated for.

[Bkeeneykid]

With your guy's experience in peripheral making, I would agree with Sperkowsky, and say some way of creating really great tactile interfaces for robots would be great. The TI Launchpad system is good, but a more in depth article with some Cherry MX (or similar) switches in the kit, with included mounting systems would be a life saver (especially for my team).