[FTC]: parts that should have been made??

[gregsanCHEVY121]

I think that the tetrix kit is lacking a few parts that you cant buy and would be beneficial to everyone. I think there should be long axles, 100mm is not long enough. Some kind of linear slide metal pieces and the flat strip of gear like vex had would be good. Also the tetrix angle metal should have the same hole pattern as the channel does. Omni wheels whould be a nice addition too. Anyone else have other parts they wish were made????

[KayyPii]

Yea I agree that they should make omni wheels, my team is having issues designing good drive system without them.

[sovierr]

By flat strip of gear, do you mean a rack? I would have appreciated a rack for a rack and pinion elevator. Some sliders would have been good for a scissor lift.

[gregsanCHEVY121]

yeah i did mean a rack, i think. im pretty sure thats what it is.

[ttldomination]

I think that ...

1. Omni-Wheels would've been a good idea.

2. If we did have sliding metal, we wouldn't be allowed to use it. It's a challenge that FIRST presents. Notice in the rules, when VEX metal is mentioned, the linear slider pack is singled out and excluded.

[gregsanCHEVY121]

i did notice in the rules that the linear slide from vex wasnt allowed but i still think it would have been a nice addition.

[wilsonmw04]

you can make items with the Al and the Polycarb. Don't worry too much about what didn't come in the kit. Worry about what you can do with the parts in the kit.

[jbbjjbt]

The biggest weakness we've found so far is the split clamps. We have these monster gears and motors and no good way to tranfer the torque to the axles. It is very frustrating.

[ttldomination]

I think that the clamps are wierd, there should be longer exles, and there should be a way to to make sure that we don't have to rely on Lego parts if we are going to use the LEGO motors. The Lego gears and Tetrix gears don't even go together.

[gdo]

Three words... "Continuous Rotation Servos"

I miss them so

[ttldomination]

that would be motors. .

I think that the tetrix kit should have weaker motors we could use. Just so that we're not vamping up on Drive motors. But I think the Lego motors are to...different than the tetrix to be *easily* adapted into the kit.

[paragon571]

i wish there was some treads so that we could use that again like last year

[Rick TYler]

Omni wheels in two or three sizes.

Small sprockets and chain, with a reliable interface to a small-ish motor (Lego or a continuous-rotation servo). Plastic chain would be fine here.

Medium sprockets and chain, either metal or plastic. Suitable for drive trains.
Linear motion devices (either simple like Vex, or a commercial drawer slide)

Pneumatics

More gear sizes

Plastic gears (those aluminum gears are $$$ and over kill for a lot of uses)

More aluminum structure choices -- shallower c-channel, flat plates, angle

Drill the star-pattern on every axle-sized hole in the metal. It's inconvenient not to be able to mount stuff wherever you want without a drill.

Tank treads. Vex got this exactly right -- they are useful for a lot more than just replacing wheels.

We need a better mechanical servo interface. The bracket is too difficult to assemble and disassemble.

Something to transfer power that is lighter and longer than the current axles. The square Vex axles are great for this (and fit right into the Lego motors, too). The plastic bearing blocks, lock collars and square axles from Vex are a good model.

There's a lot to like about the current kit, but it shows that it's a version 1.0. Keep the good stuff coming.