The problem is you would have to replace the motor in the shop-vac with a FRC legal motor.
In case you don’t know (and if you don’t, that’s ok! Awesome to see more companies get interested in FIRST. I’m sure we can all help you get caught up to speed with rules haha), there is a specific list of motors that are allowed to be on the robot. The same applies to most fans, unless they are integrated with a COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) item (some of the speed controllers, used to control the motors had a built in fan), can’t be on the robot. Except for ones that were provided in the Kit of Parts.
Lots of great info! Maybe next year we can get in the KOP.
Our sponsored groups are utilizing most of our stuff in their back end planning such as pc’s running solid works, cnc milling, etc. Personally, we are just honored to be a part of all this.
Do you plan on expanding to more teams after this season if this seems feasible for CM? Its awesome seeing more computing companies interested in FIRST!
This is our test year. We didn’t even know this was a thing until one of the coaches posted a message to our reddit page. From there, it just kind of kept growing into what you see today.
We are a maker company and anything we can do to support other makers is something we want to be a part of. I can’t tell you what our plans will be for next year but I will say this: based on the hype around the office about these groups I do not see this getting smaller. We are excited to see what people do with our stuff. If that means building a robot to throw balls at a castle, we are all for it. The effort I have seen from visiting the classrooms is astronomical. I see the value and of course, I am excited when someone mentions our products in a positive light.
We are also trying our hardest to integrate with the culture of FIRST. If anyone is coming to the L.A. Regional you will see that we have done our homework as best we can for rookies. We will have Cooler Master buttons for everyone to add to their collection as well as raffles and giveaways. In my meeting with FIRST we were told a lot of booths give out pens and keychains. That simply wont cut it for us. We know you can all use a pen but we think you could use some gear even more. Trust me when I say that we WILL be giving out some legit awesome stuff cough keyboards cough including a special product that wont even be out until AFTER the competition. And for those that aren’t lucky enough to snag something in person we will have a special section of our store just for FIRST members.
Hey, just for grins… You guys aren’t considering dropping by the Orange County Regional as well, are you? (I’ll be at both, just wondering.) It’s 3 weeks later, and probably a few miles closer than L.A. to you.
If we have leftovers we will put them in the CM Store. I think we ordered 500. If there is enough of a demand expressed here we can up that order, I’m sure.
Sounds cool Brandon, I’d love to snag one if theres any left.
Side note: I wonder how well a Hyper 212 Evo will cool a CIM motor… (Or the new access point we use this year, that thing gets hotter than I thought it would…)
The surface area would be decent on a CIM. Applying the right amount of thermal compound is the issue. Can’t wait until you guys manufacture the CIM waterblock.
The back of the CIM motor is (mostly) flat, however most of the heat isn’t dissipated from that location, but it does get hot after a lot of continuous use. Some thermal paste will definitely help instead of direct contact.
Anecdotal story: Last year the students were doing a demo, for several hours. Eventually the performance of the robot was quite abysmal. I noticed the motors were hot…REALLY hot. I took some damp paper towels and wrapped them around the motor…you could hear the water sizzle and evaporate off. So maybe CoolerMaster could make a water cooling block for CIM motors! :rolleyes:
Edit: I see that Samuel had the same idea as me, and we posted at the same time.
Well let’s think about this. The motor gets hot and it needs a way of dissipating the heat. I can think of 2 ways I would try to go about this based on skill, time, space, etc.
2- Take a liquid cooling system (closed loop) and disconnect the part that goes against the processor. Swap it out for a hallow cylindrical sleeve that fits around the motor. This would definitely take some effort and custom parts but it sounds like it might be worth it if it can be used every year.
Keep in mind I have never built a robot and have no idea what I’m talking about
If you can blow a fan over them, they are more effective.
As for your 2nd idea, maybe all teams should bring their gaming PCs with a custom water loop, and put it in the pits and cool the motors down between matches!
