Technical Library

[Jnadke]

Everyone likes to learn, right? So I thought I'd start a library of various information for people to learn from. What's posted here? Everything that you'd need to know to build a FIRST robot. This includes gears, mechanics, pneumatics, electronics, and programming. If you have a tutorial on how something works, or how to create something, post it here in link form. I'll add it. Please do not post information specific to kit parts.

General

• HowStuffWorks - Gears, Motors, Differentials, Everything Else
• ChiefDelphi Whitepapers - Whitepapers section of this website

Mechanics

• Boston Gear's Gear Theory - Boston Gear's comprehensive manual on gear theory
• General Motor Information - Motor Power, Selecting a Motor, Gear Construction, etc.

Electronics

• National Semiconductor AppNotes - Information & Circuit Diagrams for various applications

Pneumatics

Programming

• Parallax - Lots of programming documents. Creators of the Stamp chip in the Robot Controller

[Matt Reiland]

Along these same lines, I would love to see this type of info expand into an area that also lists the place where you buy different types of things. We used to buy gears and bearings all over, this year we found Motion Industry local and they are over half the price of places like MSC and Small Parts for Boston and Martin gears and the store on 14 mile is open 24Hrs a day!!

Anyone else interested in creating a list of suppliers maybe by state?

[Adam Y.]

Programming

www.parallax.com
Lots and lots of books in .pdf format.

[sanddrag]

Originally posted by Matt Reiland
We used to buy gears and bearings all over, this year we found Motion Industry local and they are over half the price of places like MSC and Small Parts for Boston and Martin gears and the store on 14 mile is open 24Hrs a day!!

You mean less than 1/2 the price right? Anyway, are they much cheaper than Berg?

[Greg Ross]

Originally posted by sanddrag
You mean less than 1/2 the price right? Anyway, are they much cheaper than Berg?

Or "over 50% off".

[Matt Reiland]

Originally posted by sanddrag
You mean less than 1/2 the price right? Anyway, are they much cheaper than Berg?

Yes, sorry they are very cheap, most of the time the savings were at least 50%, they were in stock and open 24hrs. Same with bearings, and chain components, pulleys, and belts.

Website,
http://www.motionindustries.com/moti.../mi/motion.jsp

Check to see if there is one near you!

[Gadget470]

Matt: Most people don't know where 14 mile is

I know where it is, but our Brazillian, Canadian, and Non SE Michigan friends don't. (Sorry just wanted to point that out)

I was looking at Motion Industries this year as a potential supplier for our FIRST needs, but we found it a bit easier to design something with a catolog in front of us. I'm sure M.I. has a catolog, but we didn't have one from them.

Maybe FIRST could pick them up as a gear supplier hmmm

With 2002 sales in excess of $2.2 billion, Motion Industries is the world’s largest distributor of bearings; mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, and hydraulic power replacement parts; and hose products

[Matt Reiland]

Originally posted by Gadget470
Matt: Most people don't know where 14 mile is

I know where it is, but our Brazillian, Canadian, and Non SE Michigan friends don't. (Sorry just wanted to point that out)

I was looking at Motion Industries this year as a potential supplier for our FIRST needs, but we found it a bit easier to design something with a catalog in front of us. I'm sure M.I. has a catalog, but we didn't have one from them.

Hey everyone knows where 8-Mile is RIGHT? Its just a few miles from there!

Anyway you can design gearboxes and such using catalogs from suppliers like Rush or Small parts then just buy the gears and bearings from a local store like motion for much less money. Motion doesn't have a catalog for themselves, they are like a superstore for parts vendors (Similar to small parts but MUCH larger) They sell Boston and Martin gears whose specs are readily available, same with about 20 different bearing manufacturers. If you call them they will tell you the lines they carry, then you can use the specs for identical parts. Most parts are in stock too! I buy all transmission products from them from now on.

[Gadget470]

Follow up to my earlier post... We didn't choose M.I. because there is no location near Ypsilanti, MI (Team Location) There are a lot near me (in Berkley, MI) though.

[Matt Attallah]

Originally posted by Gadget470
Follow up to my earlier post... We didn't choose M.I. because there is no location near Ypsilanti, MI (Team Location) There are a lot near me (in Berkley, MI) though.

So you and run and get the stuff! Go after robotics, spend all night getting what you need or create a home-made catalog, and poof-there you go. (it's not like we get much of that thing we call sleep while we are in the build seasion)

[Matt Reiland]

You guys are making it sound MUCH harder than it is to save money and time.

You design your transmission based on STANDARD parts i.e. 20 pitch 20 d.p.a. 20 tooth gear, no hub (Which is smart since they are easier to find replacements for at events). You call up a Motion Industry somewhere near you, you tell them the specs of the part you want, they either pick it out and have it waiting in will call when you get there or they send it to you (Which only takes a day or so for local in state deliveries since almost all the parts are in stock) and there, you have your part at a cheaper rate than MSC, Small Parts or most other places I have found. Half the time Small Parts is sold out for the whole six weeks on powertrain products.

Ever look at how much Rush wants for a gear you need in two days, try over 8 or 9 HUNDRED dollars!

This thread, I thought, was about learning. We learned we could get parts quicker than most suppliers at a MUCH cheaper price, so I wanted to share it with you all here.

If you would rather not get most of your parts on time and pay a lot more, don't let me stop you!

[Paul Copioli]

Team 217 buys all of our stuff from Motion Industries. We even have a PO system with them, so we don't even have to pay until 30 days after we receive the parts. All of our gears, bearings, etc were bought from MI. To answer the Berg question, they stock Berg components but usually use the Berg specs and find a cheaper equivalent.

They are our single point of contact for most of our mechanical components. Here is a sample list from this year:

4mm ID ball bearing
6mm ID ball bearing
9mm ID ball bearing
2mm & 3mm key stock
3/8" and 9mm snap rings
Lovejoy couplings
Martin sprockets
Berg gears, Boston Gears, and AMETRIC gears

-Paul

[Lloyd Burns]

Motion has outlets here, too, although they have less that half the people they used to have. They are still more expensive than the competition, for many bearings.

[sanddrag]

Thanks for letting me know all about Motion Industries. I just found out that we have 3 of them within 15 miles of us!

[Matt Reiland]

Originally posted by Lloyd Burns
Motion has outlets here, too, although they have less that half the people they used to have. They are still more expensive than the competition, for many bearings.

Lloyd,

Do you have somewhere you can suggest to us all where we can get cheaper bearings