SwampThing lego league

[Tytus Gerrish]

I try so hard to get our teams status up with so much i try to do

So, we have a Lego league team at BAk Middle school of the arts, ALRIGHT! were getting stuff done

THEN! i Hear Our arch Nemesis SPAM Has 4 already
And KrunCh will Have 10!

BLAST! foiled again!

Sometimes i think we may never catch up

Makes me want to start More Just to get back in the race and I will If i can, Believe me!

(Of course spam is great but I might ad that they have like 10x more members than us)

BTY... We need a mill, Preferably 4-axis horizontal equipped with a Dividing head Know where i can get one Cheap?

[sanddrag]

While I do think that every team should strive to be its best (or the best depending on your view), do not be discouraged when there are teams with better equipment of better status or better robots than you. Rather than feeling sorry for yourself, feel good for them. I don't let myself get down when I see teams with big dollar sponsors and 17 axis CNC machines. I feel happy for them and even happier for my own team. I'll explain. I feel good that some teams out there have the luxuries of the top dollar. And I also feel good that my team is doing just fine without those luxuries.

A lot of times there isn't really a reason for the way things happen. They just happen. You may try for years to get a couple FLL teams started and another team may have dozens up and running in months. Is this your fault. No. Is the other team better than you. No. The outcome was just different and that is that.

Each team should try hard to be what their own goal is and be proud of that. Before anyone can try to be something their not, they have to take a while to be certain of what they are.

So I guess the bottom line really is, don't try to top other teams, you only have to top yourself.

Now, for your machining troubles, you have a few choices. What we did is seeked the support of a local community college and they have provided us use of their fully equiped machining facilities at no cost for the past two years and again for this coming year.

Another option is to have your own equipment. You can check local auctions or businesses or schools downsizing and hope to score a bargain on some used equipment. There is also always eBay but you never know when or what you'll find or for how much. There is www.micromark.com which has some really nice and accurate little machines for about $600 apiece. I'm not sure how big of things you need to make but micro machines are worth taking a look at. Last, there is www.harborfreight.com which sells some machining equipment. It is sloppy but it's cheap and it works.

The last suggestion I can offer is to build your own shop from scrap. It is entirely possible and you can even make the dividing head you wanted. This option will be somewhat difficult and very time consuming but the end result will be very rewarding. http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/series/index.html

[Rich Wong]

Originally posted by Tytus Gerrish
I try so hard to get our teams status up with so much i try to do
So, we have a Lego league team at BAk Middle school of the arts, ALRIGHT! were getting stuff done
THEN! i Hear Our arch Nemesis SPAM Has 4 already
And KrunCh will Have 10!
BLAST! foiled again!
Sometimes i think we may never catch up
Makes me want to start More Just to get back in the race and I will If i can, Believe me!

Quality not Quantity!
If you mentor one or two new FLL Teams per year and one of your team wins the Director's Award every year, that is worth more than mentoring 10+ FLL teams.
So go with QUALITY instead of Quantity.

[P1NKfreak13]

tytus...dont be down about it/envious. you are an awesome team member and your team is lucky to have you. i mean you guys might not have it all together right now and dont have many members of your team who do stuff...but your the kind of person to go out and attract people to whatever you are doing just because you make it fun, entertaining and interesting. thats just what you have to do...go out with big signs, and just make yourself, your team, and what you guys do be known to the public to where they can ask questions if they have any. another thing, so that you dont only get guys on the teams, have a girl go with you to tell the other gurls that there is more to robotics than building a robot...thats what my job this year was @ our open house, to convince all the girls that robotics wasnt just robots...there was spirit, chairman's, programming, design of the robot, signs, scouting, soo many other things other than the robot itself. i dont know if you even care, but i just wanted to let ya in on a tiny tip i learned this year with recruiting people to be on our team.
oh, and about the lego-league team...we only have 8 teams...not 10! but we also have a whole bunch of team members to where we have extras if we need them. we have a huge demand for the lego league team, kid wise also, where we have to have a "waiting list" for the next year. where i live, there is a great demand for all the things we do, caused by the childrens' parents being engineers at different companies around where i live.
ill talk to ya later about this tytus, okae?...

.stephani.

[Tytus Gerrish]

WOWH! i wroote that so long ago...

heres an update, we have been working in the shop on swampthing and will be working on it almost every day until saturday last nite we realy had everyiong running like clockwork and i was found myself Directing them and leading them in the shop . a band of Crazies sould be led by the Craziest righr? we Got alot done the assingments that were given to indivduals realy got us motivated and and working togeather :i went to SPAM's kickoff meeting took a look at their team structure, Took their power point presentation and handed it to my team leader and took some of their ideas on team organisation: we know whart we have to do and what we need to do it, so its running smoothly

as for My FLL team...

THE SWAMPSQUAD
2883, or 3882 or 8823 or 2838 or somthing like that, IM DISLEXIC AlRIGHT!

Those kids are coming togeather i keep pushing new ideas on them and Sometimes they take to them like The lego crab drive im actualy taking 3 of my 8th graders with us to the robot rodeo and all the leaders of the other FLL teams here in Palm Beach Are Green with envy. the only real problem that weve been having is a lack of motors there are only 6 Gear-downs, i bring 2 from home and Brian Brings 2 from home, so we have a little more but its still not enough I ordered 2 of the More powerfull lego motors, 4 turntables, and 20 universal-joints im gonna check today if thay came in. we ahve a competion in WPB on november 15 And I think i will have 2 teams/robots entered. Its Going to Work