WCP 2016 Product Release + MCC

[R.C.]

We are excited to release some of the items we've been working on the past year or so.

• WCP Spartan Sensor Board with gyro & without gyro - MXP Breakout for the roborio that has a dedicated power supply for sensors (Can do down to 3.3V) & Gyro option (Drift is between .25 & 2 degrees a match). This beta version of this board was tested in 2015 by FRC Teams 254/971/973/1323/1678. Full details are on the product page, more info soon to follow along with code.
• Pneumatic Tires & Hubs - Who doesn't love pneumatic wheels?
• 3/8" Hex to 1/2" Hex Adapter - Adapter for turning products that are only available in 1/2" hex into 3/8" hex.
• GT2 Belts 3mm pitch - Comptabible with our existing 3mm pulleys and great for shooting, intake and various other applications with low to moderate load.
• Endmills: 1 flute for Aluminum - With the growing popularity of CNC routers for teams, we figured we'd help out with some affordable endmills.

We will be adding CAD files, specs, pictures sometime tonight and tomorrow. Inventory will also be updated by this weekend. Most if not all items will ship by the end of Week 1.

P.S. For 2016, we'll be building a Minimum Competitive Robot that will showcase 2-3 subsystems. Full CAD/BOM and details will be published online Friday 1/15. Tune in for more details.

[thatprogrammer]

That gyro sensor is... AWESOME.
I just want to get confirmation, does the line: "Dedicated Power Supply - Can go down to 3.3V!" mean that we won't suffer from sensor brown out at 6v?

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by thatprogrammer

That gyro sensor is... AWESOME.
I just want to get confirmation, does the line: "Dedicated Power Supply - Can go down to 3.3V!" mean that we won't suffer from sensor brown out at 6v?

The 5V line powering your DIO gets boosted to 5V. This is particularly helpful for not losing counts from relative sensors (optical encoders / hall effect / etc) in low power conditions. This will not, however, prevent your motor controllers from browning. It just makes sure you can always measure your system.

[thatprogrammer]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

The 5V line powering your DIO gets boosted to 5V. This is particularly helpful for not losing counts from relative sensors (optical encoders / hall effect / etc) in low power conditions. This will not, however, prevent your motor controllers from browning. It just makes sure you can always measure your system.

Thanks for confirming. Teams should still be working to avoid brownouts in order to protect against brownouts in their drive systems, but this is a good safety net for operations like full court shooters.

[Thad House]

What chip is the Gryo? Is it an ADRXS450 (or 453)? If it is that will help alot as it will be compatible with the WPILib and I'm pretty sure LabVIEW has built in support for that chip as well.

[Sohaib]

Will these be sold through VEX as well?

[rsisk]

Is the Spartan sensor board going to be an approved board for use on an FRC robot? Or will there be problems with the PWM pass thru connectors being part of an active board?

[Knufire]

Does the inner tube come with the tire or hub?

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by rsisk

Is the Spartan sensor board going to be an approved board for use on an FRC robot? Or will there be problems with the PWM pass thru connectors being part of an active board?

In 14 hours you will know the answer

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Thad House

What chip is the Gryo? Is it an ADRXS450 (or 453)? If it is that will help alot as it will be compatible with the WPILib and I'm pretty sure LabVIEW has built in support for that chip as well.

ADXRS453

[sanddrag]

I like all of these things. I wish you had the tires about a month ago, before I spent over $100 on similar tires from McMaster, but that's okay, I'm sure we'll need more at some point in the future. I'm very curious to see a picture of the other tread pattern, and the hubs.

Also, is there any possibility of inch size single-flute router bits?

[Chak]

What's the bore size on those GT2 pulleys? I hope and expect 1/2'' hex, but I can't find that information on the website (yet).

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by marshall

The spartan board is really cool. Can you share how that design came to be and what software you did the PCB layout in?

I emailed Austin (FRC971) who did all the real leg work, we just helped with production and resale. He should be able to be able to post more info.

Originally Posted by mman1506

Any pictures of the pneumatic wheel hubs?

I'm also really glad to see 971's mxp available I nearly considered designing my own after seeing theirs. What model of gyro are you using?

We are using the same model that Jared noted below!

Originally Posted by Sohaib

Will these be sold through VEX as well?

They will not be sold via VEX, but for our Canadian customers we can ship via USPS if that is more affordable. I know it won't be as fast as direct ship from VEX Canada but it should be cheaper than FedEX.

Originally Posted by rsisk

Is the Spartan sensor board going to be an approved board for use on an FRC robot? Or will there be problems with the PWM pass thru connectors being part of an active board?

You will have to wait to find out tomorrow

Originally Posted by Knufire

Does the inner tube come with the tire or hub?

Sorry that's my fault,the tube comes with the tire as shown in the picture. Editing description now.

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I like all of these things. I wish you had the tires about a month ago, before I spent over $100 on similar tires from McMaster, but that's okay, I'm sure we'll need more at some point in the future. I'm very curious to see a picture of the other tread pattern, and the hubs.

Also, is there any possibility of inch size single-flute router bits?

We will have both tire pictures up tomorrow and hubs in a couple of days. CAD will follow tomorrow. For the endmills we went with Metric because:

• The metric endmills are cheaper for our customers. I understand that most customers will need to buy a new collet, but it will really save them money over the Onsrud ones.
• The 4mm will allow you to create tap holes for #10-32 and router at a good feedrate. In the past we've used 1/8" endmills to create this hole, but have broken way too may endmills. Moving to 4mm has been fantastic.

But David, if you'd still like the english standard please email me sizes and QTY.

Originally Posted by Chak

What's the bore size on those GT2 pulleys? I hope and expect 1/2'' hex, but I can't find that information on the website (yet).

Those are all pinions for the smaller legal motors in FRC. They are .125, 4mm and 5mm press fit for those motors. None of the pinions are 1/2", you can download and check the models as well. We do have larger pulleys in 3mm GT profile in production, but I'm unsure if we'll get them in time for teams this season.

Side notes belt are now in stock, picture soon to follow.

[R.C.]

Update,

The pneumatic wheels page has both variations of tires we are selling. Hubs are different for both products. CAD is up, the tread is dumbed down (Will be updated later).

GT2 Belts has pictures and in stock qty's.

[marshall]

The spartan board is really cool. Can you share how that design came to be and what software you did the PCB layout in?