Plummer Industries is excited to announce the release of some of what we have been working on for the next FIRST season. It was great to show off some of these products and get your feedback at World’s this year. We learned alot about how other teams construct their bumpers while making repairs at the robot service center.
First, some updates on some old products.
This year a few teams reported wear on the Top Mount Socket. Our redesign offers a slightly different geometry and heat treating to significantly improve wear without raising the price. All are still cross compatible. If you have the old top mount sockets and need replacements please reach out to [email protected]
New stuff
We have made a new type of vertical bumper mount that compliments the original. Instead of holes to mount the bumper mounts, these have slots to allow adjustment of the bumper mounts to perfectly fit the sockets on your robot. These may be needed depending on where on your robot you secure the bumper mounts.
We have had tube inserts in the works for a couple years but can now more economically produce them. Pretty standard tube inserts that fit in the end of different size tubes allow teams to connect directly into the end of them. They will ship unthreaded to save costs, and because of my personal belief that tapping builds character and skills in students.
And here’s the big one, or small one by weight and size.
The new Plummer Industries Drive Corner. Weighing in at 47oz (2.9375 lbs) and with the frame at only 1.5 inches off the ground it is one of the smallest and lightest swerve modules available. All machined components are made in house in Maryland. It boasts a “massive” 2.5 inch diameter wheel in a fully protected wheel mount made from a single piece of aluminum. The steering motor is inverted and the drive motor is mounted via a motor mount to allow for easy maintenance. The plates are invertible to allow for users to choose the orientation of the steering motor for easier wire management on the standard plates and even more improvements with the linear plates. Find more information here - https://plummerindustries.com/robotics/resources/drive-corner-info
Compatible motors are Neos,Vortexes, and Krakens. However, teams must supply their own pinions for the Krakens. The Steering motor is flush to the bottom of the lower plate with a Neo but a kraken or vortex will fit but hang out of the bottom.
We have finished machining some of the other options we were hinting at World’s. Inline plates are available which are thinner and allow for packaging of intakes and other internal mechanisms. There are alot more options coming for these but if there is something specific you’d like to see, let us know. Due to feedback from World’s we have also decided to release the Sensor in a CAN configuration to allow for more universal use. The Drive Corners will ship with these for now.
The price point on these are a little higher than we would have liked at $595 but include some extras that are not included in other modules. Plummer Industry Modules ship with the sensor and an extra wheel assembly (wheel,wheel miter gear,2 bearings,miter gear hardware). These are included to require teams to buy the spares we believe they should have. We will have preorders available on the website and units will start to ship mid September.
Candid time. While this is very expensive compared to comparable products there isn’t much we could do to change this without buying parts from overseas. As our machines and technology improve, we can reduce the price without skimping on quality or our Made in America principles.
The purpose of this post is to inform the community and get feedback so be as critical of any of these announcements as you like. Thank you to all for the support as we’ve grown throughout the years.
