Gearbox pt 2

[Aren_Hill]

Hmm interesting, Our drivetrain this year used 4 cim/dewalt combo's and we never had a problem with any of them the same with many other teams from what i know. They have a very proven track record.

But right now im looking in to building a dewalt size transmission with nicer ratios for next year so im with ya in the search.

[sanddrag]

If your team has a problem with the Dewalt brand specifically there are several other drills out there containing gearboxes you could probably interface to.

[Dick Linn]

Maybe ??? http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.as...ame=powerTrans

Price is right, anyway.

[Pavan Dave]

... Team 118 has used Dewalts for the past few years and they work very well. I am not sure what exactly you are talking about...

[s_forbes]

Originally Posted by Pavan

... Team 118 has used Dewalts for the past few years and they work very well. I am not sure what exactly you are talking about...

Our team must just have bad luck

[=Martin=Taylor=]

Originally Posted by Dick Linn

Maybe ??? http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.as...ame=powerTrans

Price is right, anyway.

HOW DO YOU FIND ALL THIS COOL STUFF!!?? Please, I really want to know!

[Dick Linn]

Having been the mentor (gearhead) who was responsible for the drivetrain for about 5 years, I've done a lot of searching around for (inexpensive) parts and mass-produced stuff that can be adapted to the task at hand. Besides, I'm looking for some cheap gear-reduction stuff to make a can crusher some day

Surplus Center has good prices on chain sprockets, though I don't know about the quality. They also have some good prices on shaft collars and flex couplers.

This could be very useful for some mechanism on a robot: http://www.surpluscenter.com/Item.as...&i tem=1-2948

[Kevin Sevcik]

Sadly, I think it's questionable using anything from a place called "Surplus Center". At least as the rules were last year. If they don't have enough stock on hand to service a good percentage of FIRST teams, they don't count as a COTS supplier. Looking through the inventory, I don't think you could defend something if they only have 61 in stock. Unless you can find it actually for sale in single units from somewhere else, in which case I'd think you'd cost it at that retail price but actually purchase it from the surplus center. So the sprockets would be fine since those come from McMaster, MSC, etc. But I'd be rather wary of most of those gear boxes.

[Elgin Clock]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1306

Gives you this:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/13413

Not sure if any of any of those components are legal nowadays (we used it in 2002) but it's pretty easy to make with limited resources, and it's from Baker's team originally so you know it was probably the inspiration behind some of the AndyMark stuff.

[Dick Linn]

I'm sure you'd have to watch the rules on assemblies such as those gearboxes. I'm not that familiar with the rules. I'm sure there are many "off the shelf" items where a supplier doesn't stock hundreds and hundreds. AndyMark transmissions and other parts might fit in that category. In the case of these surplus transmissions, they were used in lawnmowers, so there may be many floating around, and parts may be available locally.

[ChuckDickerson]

I tend to agree that in the spirit of the rules from previous years most items at Surplus Center or any of the other surplus dealers are probably not legal. I have purchased lots or stuff from Surplus Center over the years for my personal projects but the only thing I think we have ever purchased from them for use on our FIRST robot was #35 chain master links. A couple of years ago I was ordering some other stuff from them for a personal project and ordered a bunch of their #35 master links (like 50 IIRC). At $.35 each they are about as cheap as I have ever seen anywhere. We are still have probably 30 left so we should be good for a few more years. The current stock is over 9000 so I would think they would legally count as a COTS part equally available to all teams.

This brings up a question: Since these are less than $1.00 and are technically a fastener for chain should they or should they not be included in the cost accounting?