Are gears really this expensive?

Well, we’re using the Small Parts catalog and McMaster for gears, sprockets, etc. Their prices are pretty steep.

Any other places out there with “cheaper” prices. Or are gears really this expensive ($10-$50 bucks a pop) ?

-anton

Anton,

I know it depends on your point of view, but spending $10-$50 on a gear is really not that expensive. Gear pricing depends heavily on volume. In the quantities that most FIRST teams buy gears, we rteally don’t get the volume discount. Since the rules this year allow any off the shelf gear, hardened gears are the way to go and those are a little more expensive.

BTW, my point of view is this: I usually design gears that go into my company’s robots that are around $150 - $250 a piece.

-Paul

oh…

thanks for this info. now i can justify the expense. spending money that isnt mine hurts when i’m responsible for it. heh.

-anton who is hoping he did the gear ratios correctly.