Advantages/Disadvantages of West Coast Drive

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by MichaelBick

Both Vex and WCP make pretty much COTS "plug-and-play" gearboxes for WCD.

To an extent. I wouldn't call what we have a plethora of options that are specifically designed with WCD in mind. For a given drive train design we have 1 great product and a few other adaptable choices. If a team can't make an adapter plate of some sort, there's really only 1 SS and 1 DS product.

AM - practically non-existent because the mount points interfere with the chain runs

WCP - yes! We've used these for 2 years now and love both the single and double-speed options. WCP-WCD-DS lasted through 85 matches in 2016 during the preseason, competition season and post-season with zero issues. Zero. None. We snapped quite a bit of chain (broken links), but the gearbox kept on chugging.

VEXPro -
Single Speed: The single-speed double-reduction looks like it will work for WCD as-is, yet I have some reservations about longevity. There are effectively about 5.5 lbs cantilevered off of 2 mount points through plastic housing. I'd trust such a setup for a single competition. Yet I have reservations for so many matches between March 1 and November 31 in a game like 2016 (with considerations for transporting the robot so many times). It would require additional support somewhere, either from adapter plates or a super structure. So IMO it's not quite plug-and-play in WCD. My team could easily get it done, but I'm not sure for a typical team.

There also seemed to be a very large sensitivity to assembly tolerances on the VP Ball Shifter. I heard of multiple teams who had gear teeth sheer on the 3rd stage due to slight misalignments, and one such team was our alliance partner in the Finals at their 2nd event. It was something manageable, but I know my team would have to consider how rough the game is on drive trains before purchasing ball shifters.

These are, of course, my perspective based upon what I know about my teams strengths and weaknesses.