I am looking to get a hold of at least one Banebots 42mm 64:1 gearbox and/or at least one 48:1 gearbox. I went to purchase some extras for the Championship only to find out that Banebots have stopped making them. When I emailed them this:
>> I am trying to purchase a 64/1 42mm gearbox for the 550 motor and you have not had them in stock for over a month. I also noticed that the 48/1 and 27/1 are also out of stock. Are these items going to be restocked shortly [within a week] or have they been discontinued?
They Responded with:
Dear Eric O’Brien,
These items are being re-designed in house so that we can alleviate availability issues and to incorporate changes requested by customers. The new series will not be available until later this year. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Sincere thanks,
BaneBots, LLC
Therefore I am either looking to purchase some from others who do not need them, or at least get a list of teams going to Atlanta who will have them, and are willing to sell or trade for one. Do have any of these gearboxes? Are you willing to sell them?
The good news out of all of this is that Banebots may be making a better product than what they currently have (which shouldn’t be too tough of a task).
I have 5 256:1s that are in various states of functionality. If you have a two 3 stage ring gear to swap in, you could probably easily make 3-4 working gearboxes.
I’m willing to cut our suppliers a bit of slack. It must be quite difficult running a business where there is a huge boom in demand for two or three weeks out of the year. I don’t know what the year-round sales figures are for Banebots and AndyMark and others, but I imagine January sales are probably equal to the other 11 months combined. (Edit: Kind of like Christmas in retail… but crazier!)
Parts availablity is part of the engineering process, and while I can appreciate the frustration in seeing a needed part unavailable, I can also see how it would make business sense for the manufacturer to not order a new production run of a part that is going to be upgraded and improved in the near future.
Technically, however, I have to agree that since it is now no longer available, the 42mm gearbox may no longer be a COTS item. Does this mean that installed 42mm gearboxes must be removed from robots in order to pass tech inspection? (It seems ludicrous, since they were definitely COTS during build period…) I’m not sure if there is a Q&A clarifying for which time period an item must be “commonly available” in order to qualify for COTS status, or whether an item that is COTS during build remains COTS for the season even if it becomes unavailable for some period during the season.
Oh… and if I had one to bring, I’d bring it to Atlanta. We’ve got a 64:1 but only in the 36mm size. Sorry, but can’t help there.
Everyone always seems to forget the little “used to be COTS” rule
COTS ITEMS from ROBOTS entered in previous FIRST competitions or COTS
MECHANISMS that are no longer commercially available may be used under the following
conditions:
The item must be unmodified, and still in its original condition as delivered from the
VENDOR
The item must not be a part custom made for the FIRST competition and provided in the
Kit Of Parts for a previous FIRST Robotics Competition (e.g. 2006 FRC transmissions,
custom-made motor couplers, custom sensor strips, 2006 IFI CMUcam II modules, etc.
are not permitted)
The item must satisfy ALL of the rules associated with materials/parts use for the 2008 FIRST Robotics Competition)
Provided that the installed gearbox is unmodified it meets the requirements of the rules regardless of the current COTS status of the gearbox.
And if it is modified? I would say that it is still legal based on the wording used in the definition of a vendor.
…
The VENDOR must be normally able to ship any general (i.e., non-FIRST unique) product within
five business days of receiving a valid purchase request. It is recognized that certain unusual
circumstances (such as 1,000 FIRST teams all ordering the same part at once from the same
VENDOR) may cause atypical delays in shipping due to backorders for even the largest
VENDORS. Such delays due to higher-than-normal order rates are excused.
o Note that the intent here is to protect the teams against long delays in availability of parts
that will impact their ability to complete their ROBOT. The FIRST Robotics Competition
build season is only six weeks long, so the VENDOR must be able to get their product,
particularly FIRST unique items, to a team in a timely manner.
The business should maintain sufficient stock or production capability to fill teams orders within
a reasonable period during the build season (less than 1 week).
…
emphasis mine
This wording appears to suggest that items that cease to be COTS after build season should be OK, but perhaps a query to the official Q&A is in order here?
