After the DC Controls Workshop Dec.13, we had a compete working control system mounted to a board. I decided to build a quick mobility system. The project cost me $8 and about 14 man-hours, with help from my brother and 13-year-old son (who did the motor wiring). I used wheels and old cordless drills (junk cleaned out of the shop last summer) and recycled 2X4s and plywood. I was hoping the kids on the team would take one look at this ugly monstrosity and decide to build a proper replacement, but so far - no luck.
One thing I find with our students, once they find something they can “play” with, THEY WILL. :yikes:
It usually takes them quite a while to get back to learning, but once they do, look out, that is where the real creativity begins!
BTW, great learning platform! Well done!
great looking practice bot, i wish my team was this organized, we dont even have the controlls mounted on a board for practice yet:(
Le’me guess… Lavery told you to make it out of wood, “So that it would float” 
Nope, Dave never says anything to help us… he is a man of honor (unfortunately for us, or is that fortunately?). And Mike, the reason the team didn’t improve on your design/work/effort, is that it would take them a year or two to do that well! Plus, it is more fun to play with it, than build another… at least for me.
Control system aside, I’m curious how the drills work for moving a base of that size. While it’s not likely to be legal for FRC, there are times where we just don’t have the parts to build a base for prototyping or other needs. (We always seem to have all of our CIMs tied up on past robots.)
The 2004 Bosch drill motors were more powerful than the CIM’s, so they should do just fine provided you use an appropriate reduction.