Hello. I had a few questions regarding the KOP Voucher if you do opt-out for the drive train. First of all, when would you receive the voucher, on kickoff day, before kickoff, or after? If it is before or after, how long would it be?
Also, has any other team that uses the Kitbot drive train thought of opting out for the voucher, then just buying the frame only? The frame only is $200 (link), and my team has been using the kitbot for the better part of 10 years, so we have acquired numerous shafts, dead axles, gears and gearboxes, etc that just lie around. I was thinking of buying just the frame only and probably a new set of wheels but that heavily depends on when we would receive the voucher.
There is also the changes from a possible AM14U5 to AM14U6. Going from 4 to 5 there were not too many changes, but I wouldn’t want the team to miss out on any if changes were to occur. Thanks!
My team ran modified versions of the kit chassis 2018-2022. We opt out of the kit and just purchase the components we need (usually the side rails). That way, we’re not spending the voucher on the reusable components or things we don’t need when customizing our chassis. We’ve picked up enough AM14U’s in the past to have belts, gears, and gearboxes on hand. You get the voucher before kickoff and can use it early to have those parts on hand to start the season if you want.
1293 used to opt out because “it was so easy to build a custom frame” (and then they proceeded to build a tube frame, scrap it for being out of square, build another one, have to bag just about that, and it still wouldn’t be square). For us, taking the kit drivetrain is one less thing to worry about (and it eliminates shipping).
Your strategy is valid if you’ve got the parts (in particular, the belts/pulleys/wheels) to make it work. The super safe strategy might be to order a 14U5 Frame Only in the fall so you’re 100% sure you have a setup that goes together, then use the voucher funds on other products in the spring. Worst comes to worst, you can trade or deal away the frame and surely get most of your money out of it if you decide you just have to have the hypothetical 14U6.
(Standard disclaimer about “I don’t know anything about the 2023 KoP, including the continued existence of the AndyMark voucher, so all of these are based in 2022 guidelines” goes here.)
We usually build a kitbot, 2020 opted out to build WCD, which worked and was a wash for $$$. There was a considerable amount of time given to the design though which ate at other items. Switched back to the kit for that reason and have been pretty happy to not give it much thought.
Looking through our inventory, we have tons of gearboxes/gears, shafts, unused wheels, bearings. Once we get that sorted, we may just order the plates which do get cut each year. Rev ION looks interesting too.
The KOP chassis is $699 on Andymark’s web site. Figure any roller chassis is going to be at least that much. Since you only get a $450 voucher for opting out, going KOP is by far the most economical option.
3946 did this several years - opt out and buy the “frame only” version before kickoff; I recommend! Also replace bearings and anything else worn or broken. I don’t recall exactly when the voucher appeared, but the years I was ordering I used it for the first AM order immediately following kickoff because I was able to bypass our usual ordering process.
Your thought process seems sound. You’re ultimately making a subjective value comparison of surplus voucher funds versus spare drive base parts. You get to decide which of those seems more valuable to your team. For some teams, the voucher can be more valuable even if the dollar value is less since it is more flexible.
We’ve opted out one year, but mostly opted in. Nothing wrong to see what parts you have and purchase just what you need if economical.
We did a custom frame in 2019, but still had a kit chassis, so built it, used it for some school demos just as a drivetrain, and then rebuilt it for 2020 when opting out. I’m not remembering whether there was a 2021 voucher, but we built another kit bot and think we just scrounged and bought some side plates. We opted-in this year, and I am probably seriously going to consider other drives for 2023. Which makes it more likely to opt out. It is always in the equation of how much opt-out value we really get, because in our experience having a spare kit chassis never hurts.
We try to opt out but the window to opt out is often too small. We used the voucher to buy hex shafts, hex spacers, different size wheels etc. The main reason we opt out is we didn’t like where the gearbox mounts so we custom make our frame to move it to the front/ back of the robot. You gain so much more room for mechanisms.
We have been opting out for the last six years or so as we have the ability to and chose to build a custom chassis. Also we started using a 2 speed transmission. So receiving the same unused parts every year seemed unnecessary.
To answer some of your questions about dates.
This past year the opt out period was “October 14 - 21: Drive base opt out window”
The voucher became available “(available Nov. 18 when pre-Kickoff vouchers are released)”
The voucher expiration date is “Expiration Date: 4/29/2022”
We usually run a KOP bot and we have chosen to opt out for many years and buy what we need separately, generally only the frame rails. The cost savings are worth it in our minds.