andy mark wheels delay

[maltz1881]

We built our own wheels last night out of HDPE. We cut out blocks 6"x6" 1/2 inch thick. We lathed them down and put 3 together to make the wheels for the trailer. We are building 2 trailers and had the wheels taken care of within an hour.

[Matt C]

Unfortunately there are many MANY teams out there with no access to machine tools.

[Aren_Hill]

We ordered more wheels and some cims from AndyMark monday morning, and received them tuesday by like 11am...we selected ground shipping...

guess it pays to order early then

[team222badbrad]

222 placed our order the day of kickoff....

We already have our order.

[spc295]

why did first not just give us six wheels, what were they thinking? and why did andy mark not anticipate so many rover wheels needing to be bought?

[Kevin Sevcik]

The better question is why no one seems to have anticipated the large demand for these wheels and game pieces that only have one source.

[Andy Baker]

All,

We are in process of molding more wheels. We are shooting to have these wheels ready to ship out on Monday.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

[GaryVoshol]

Please note that the rules say a VENDOR should be able to ship product within 5 business days. AndyMark is meeting that. Also the rules mention this may not be possible if there is a sudden influx of orders.

As for why only 4 per kit, most likely because that's the minimum number needed for your robot. (Yes, you can make a tricycle, but ...)

[JohnBoucher]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

All,

We are in process of molding more wheels. We are shooting to have these wheels ready to ship out on Monday.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

Thanks Andy. Sounds good.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by spc295

why did first not just give us six wheels, what were they thinking? and why did andy mark not anticipate so many rover wheels needing to be bought?

Maybe, just maybe, they couldn't make enough fast enough.

Imagine this possible scenario: AM hears about the need for X product from FIRST in December. They are asked to supply Y number of X product for the KOP and some extra. Possibly they do not know that this is the ONLY legal traction product, or that they need a lot more of it. They make some extra (say a couple of hundred) before Christmas, when they shut down for a week or so. At Kickoff, they find that hey, this is the only legal traction product, and they have to start the process at full speed from a standstill. But, teams are already pounding at their door demanding these wheels.

And maybe it takes a couple of weeks to start the process.

In the meantime, Andy has given a temporary workaround. Use it until you can get your order.

[spc295]

Originally Posted by EricH

Maybe, just maybe, they couldn't make enough fast enough.

Imagine this possible scenario: AM hears about the need for X product from FIRST in December. They are asked to supply Y number of X product for the KOP and some extra. Possibly they do not know that this is the ONLY legal traction product, or that they need a lot more of it. They make some extra (say a couple of hundred) before Christmas, when they shut down for a week or so. At Kickoff, they find that hey, this is the only legal traction product, and they have to start the process at full speed from a standstill. But, teams are already pounding at their door demanding these wheels.

And maybe it takes a couple of weeks to start the process.

In the meantime, Andy has given a temporary workaround. Use it until you can get your order.

yes but what I am saying is why did first not put six wheels in the kop, it would have been an additional $40 on our $6000 plus other regionals. and in your scenario why didnt they tell AM like in october so he would be ready?

[Wetzel]

We ordered Saturday of kickoff, and our wheels arrived today! Fast shipping Andy, your wheels arrived before our kit of parts!

Playing with these wheels for the first time, I'm quite excited about them!

Wetzel

[IndySam]

We just received 8 wheels today. We only need 4 right away so if any Indy area teams need some for this weekend and want to pick up 4 tonight or Saturday and then replace them when their order comes in send me a PM.

[Dan Richardson]

Originally Posted by spc295

yes but what I am saying is why did first not put six wheels in the kop, it would have been an additional $40 on our $6000 plus other regionals. and in your scenario why didnt they tell AM like in october so he would be ready?

Your $6000 doesn't come close to the cost of the kit + your first regional. It may have been nice to see 6 in the kit, but for the time being it would be good to just be patient and slide around priorities. Work on prototyping / designing ball mechanisms or bench test 1/2 your drive train with the wheels you do have. You can draw some relatively solid conclusions with some simple tests with half a drive train. Or do as we did, watch some of the videos people who have more.

At the very worst you could do as Andy suggested and order the thin strips you will be able to test the goals with this, and it won't have to replace them as its just testing for your goals.

[waialua359]

I'd have to agree on this one.
If the KOP had 6 wheels to begin with, every team wouldn't be in a position to all order at the same time, and all having to need more.
With other parts in the kit in the past, we have been able to either trade with a fellow team, or borrow them until our items came in. But in this case, there is no way you can borrow wheels unless a team had a 3 wheel or less bot? hehe.