Rookie Team Shopping List

Technical Kit & Additional Hardware
1

First post from rookie team 5576 from Spirit Lake Iowa!

As fundraising is moving alone well and our registration fees are paid, we are now looking at putting together a shopping list for next season. This would be things like batteries, motors, motor controllers, and all of the things of that nature that we will need to build a robot our first season. This isn’t really tools as we have plenty of tools at our school’s metal shop. Any advise on what we will need and how much, as well as what we should expect things to cost is greatly appreciated.

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A lot of this depends on your teams’ goals and resources. How competitive do you want to be? What are your strengths and weaknesses? As in do you have strong mechanical engineering mentors and students or are you stronger on the programming and electrical side of the robot.

You will probably need some speed controllers. The only options buying new ones are the new Victor SPs ($59.99) or the Talon SRX ($79.99) they are being sold by both VEXpro and Andymark. The amount you will need depends on several things, home many are going to come in KOP, which we don’t know yet. How many you will use on your robot and how many spares you want to have. Also if you are planning to build a practice robot that could dramatically effect that number.

Batteries are always useful. We don’t go to competition with less than 8 but some teams have gotten by with the the 2 you get in the rookie kit and borrowing from other teams. Batteries will normally run around $40 each. We order directly from MK and they give a pretty good deal to FRC teams. Other teams use other batteries and have other opinions about sources.

Also be mindful for what will be available in FIRST Choice, we won’t know for a couple days when the shopping period starts, but a lot of pneumatics equipment can normally be attained that way.

3

Firstly, our team’s strength is going to be the mechanical and structural aspect because we have a fantastic shop and all of our student members are competent welders and machinists.

Funding will be plentiful and it looks like I will need to do some research on the different motor controllers and batteries.

Lastly, could someone explain what FIRST Choice is, I have never heard of that before. Any help on any other things I am overlooking is greatly appreciated. I am afraid of getting into the build season and not having the things we need and being held up waiting for parts because of that.

4

read the link below and it will explain everything
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/blog-FIRST-Choice-Update-for-2015

It doesn’t hurt to have some raw materials to build with (like alumin square tube, steel shaft, assorted nuts and bolts, different bearing a couple different types of gear boxes with motors for early prototypes, wood, etc).

5

Appreciate your confidence!

Where is this magical land? We can move our team there!

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Your shop and machinist experience suggest you can start by stocking raw materials (though you may already have access to plenty via your metal shop program). Some materials we have frequently used include 1/8" and 1/16" wall aluminum box channel, 1/8" wall aluminum angle, 1/8" and 1/16" thick polycarbonate sheet, various sizes of PVC piping, and 3/8" 1/2" and 5/8" steel drive shafted (we used keyed, but others prefer hex). Depending on your exact facilities and expertise, you may opt for other alternatives. Some teams invest heavily in sheet metal designs, while others weld round tubing, for instance.

However, depending on your skill and experience in terms of design (and CAD), you may also want to stock up on some more COTs and ready-for-use options as well. 80/20 (or similar) and/or VersaFrame are great options for teams that “design on the fly” and need the ability to iterate on their final machine.

Regardless of the route you chose, ensure you have the proper hardware to use. At the very minimum stock up on #8, #10, and 1/4-20 bolts and nuts of various sizes. Also ensure you have bearings and/or bushings to use for your shaft sizes, shaft collars, #25 and/or #35 ANSI roller chain, and any special hardware for any extrustion you want to use (like 80/20 t-nuts). Rivets may also be worth investing in, depending on your manufacturing techniques.

Many basic electronics should be covered by your rookie Kit of Parts. However, you may end up wanting to buy additional motors and speed controllers beyond those. We cannot guarantee the rules on any of these components until they’re released. However, AndyMark, Vex, and Banebots have historically been the vendors for any additional motors not included in the Kit of Parts (or included in quantities less than the max allowable via the rules).

Those same vendors are also useful for many other COTs components, including gearboxes, #25/35 plate sprockets, drive pulleys, wheels, hubs, etc. The KoP will include enough to get you moving (and should be the basis of your design as a rookie team), but consider purchasing some additional materials for use on your manipulator components or to upgrade your Kit of Parts drive base. Planetary gearboxes are often useful for end-effector mechanisms, for instance.

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Just adding some more support for raw materials. You can never have enough extruded aluminum.

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You could always start brainstorming what sort of drive train you want to use and buy the parts for it ahead of time to help beat the rush!

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Since they’re rookies, I’d say it’s a 99% bet that drive train should be the KOP one. Especially since we’ve gotten some indication from FIRST that this year’s KOP chassis design could give away field obstacles.

Raw materials are nice. I wouldn’t suggest getting anything too fancy-- box tube in 1x1 and 2x1 should be just fine for your use.

Please get extra batteries and extra battery charges. Ideally, like Allen said, 8+. That should be around $320 + tax, and then some good chargers. I’m a big fan of this guy. It’s expensive, but it gets you three batteries charging from one, which is great. Not having power is a terrible way to lose a match.

I understand you have a good shop already, but it’d be a good idea to make sure you have tools and fasteners in common FRC sizes before the season starts-- those would be 1/8" rivets, 10-32 and 1/4-20 bolts (pick one, or use both), and associated wrenches, drill bits, etc. It’s a very good idea to standardize your fasteners-- it’s a big time saver at competition and cuts down on the amount of tools you need to bring.

It’d also be a good idea to track down prototyping materials-- there’s no reason to buy these-- I’m talking leftover cardboard boxes, scrap wood, maybe some foam.

Good luck in your rookie year!

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make sure you get in on the FIRST choice !!!

11

Apologies for what’s turning out to be a long post…

I totally second (third?) what Allen and Nick said regarding batteries. It’s so much easier having 8+ at your disposal, especially when they’re all on a charger and ready to go during competitions. Nothing is worse than taking your team’s robot out on the field with a partially charged battery and not doing as well as you would have on a fully charged one. Our team recently got a couple of the chargers that Nick brought up, and they’re definitely worth the cost.

When it comes to KOP this year, according to a blog post by Kate Pilotte (FRC KOP Manager), all registered and paid teams will receive 4 Talon SRX controllers in their KOP this year along with other components from the new electrical system. That being said, I don’t know what rookie teams will be receiving in addition to the motor controls. (Also, chances are that your team will need more than four motor controls.) So I’d plan on buying more (either the Victors or Talons, like Allen mentioned).

Wiring up the robot: crimpers, connectors, wires, so on and so forth. Make sure that you have a good amount of wire and in the correct gauges. We use a lot of 12 gauge wire, as well as 10, 14, 16, and 18 gauge wires. I’m not much of an expert of purchasing wire so my best advice would be to price it out at your closest hardware store. You’ll also need a pair (or three, depending on how many you think you’ll need) of strippers, averaging around $20-30.

Crimping and connection-wise, I’d recommend Anderson Powerpoles. In previous years we had used quick disconnects, but we found the connections and reliability better with the Powerpoles. Andymark sells a nice pair of ratcheting Powerpole crimpers, and our team just ordered a whole bunch of contacts and colored housings from the PowerWerx website. Our order came out to be around $150, but it could be more or less depending on how much of what you’d get.

Make sure that your team has a nice soldering iron set, which can range from $35-$80, or even higher depending on the set. Also, I’m an advocate for brass sponges because they work really well. You will also want heat shrink in various sizes to cover up any soldering connections. You can get a box of assorted sized heat shrink for about $15, or a little more if you want to get colorful.

Kind of relevant: lighting up your robot makes everything infinitely cooler. Historically, my team has used cathodes. Whatever you do, just make sure that it’s compliant with the rules! :smiley:

Thus far a lot of this has been electrical-based. Sorry about that…

Driver’s Station Materials: at some point, whether it is now, during the season, or before your competition, you’re going to want to build something to stick your laptop and controllers on. It can be as simple as plywood or as complicated as you’d like, but make sure that you can easily carry it around. There’s tons of media on this website to give you some ideas, so go crazy!

Just a bit of housekeeping: if your team is going to CAD your robot design, make sure that anyone and everyone who would do that has the same program installed before the season starts. Also big monitors are nice for CAD-ding, just saying.

That’s all I’ve got for now. If you have any questions, just let me know!

12

When it comes to wire we do just about everything (drivetrain and battery wire excluded) out of 12AWG and 18AWG wires. If it requires 14AWG we normally just use 12AWG it’s easier to only have a few gauges to worry about, just remember to always use a large gauge (smaller number) when you don’t have the correct wire. Be careful with certain connectors that aren’t designed for bigger wire but a lot of the time you will be fine.

Here is a really cheap place to get wire. We’ve been using it for 3 years with out an issue.

100ft of 12AWG for ~$33

100ft of 18AWG for ~$11

Also for the Anderson SB50’s used on the batteries I normally get them from eBay.

13

Just a small correction.
In the KOP teams will get

These are the older Talons, not the latest SRX ones.
Just don’t want anyone to be unexpectedly disappointed.

http://www.crosstheroadelectronics.com/Talon%20SR.jpg

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Whoops! Sorry for the error, thanks for the correction!

15

Too late :frowning:

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Some other miscellaneous things…

Buttons! Many FRC teams give away buttons at the events that they attend, as it’s a common way to get a souvenir from each team at the event. Order them or make your own - it just comes down to whether you want to pay a little more, or occupy some freshmen for a week.

Zipties - you can never have too many zipties. In as many lengths as possible. In as many places as possible.

Velcro - this helps immensely with holding electrical components down. Alternatively, you can ziptie them down, but velcro holds well and is quickly removable.

80/20 - we’re fans of using 80/20 for prototyping. It’s quickly adjustable and just about universal in compatibility. You can use it on your competition robot, but it’s significantly heavier than other options (quickframe, 1x1, 2x1, etc.), so it might be better utilized in prototype mechanisms.

Motors - the most common motor in FRC is the CIM motor. It’s available on AndyMark, and most other FIRST vendors. CIMs are great for drive bases and high-output applications, but if you need something smaller, mini-CIMs, AndyMark motors, and BaneBots motors, among others, are good options, as well.

Some sort of informational handout - as a PR guy, I can’t stress this enough. It’s fantastic to be able to have something to hand judges/potential sponsors/nice people that come by your pit. It’ll give them something to remember your team by, beyond just a button, and it can also provide contact information, should they be interested in a partnership (or giving you an award).

Good luck! If you have any questions about PR stuff (or other stuff, for that matter), PM me.

17

My suggestions:

Pick 2-3 fastener sizes and get a good selection of them including various screw lengths plus plenty of nuts and washers. As you know, I like 1/4-20, 10-32, and 8-32.

A selection of VersaPlanetary stuff is very nice to have. It is pricey to buy a pile of them and figure out what you’ll use later, but you could always grab a couple of 1/2" Hex base sets plus a few gearing stages. But it might be wise to wait and see for potential upgrades to those products.

The wire we’ve used is “Machine Tool Wire” from McMaster. It is very nice, flexible wire. Get one big spool of red and black in 12 gauge and you’re set for years. (source: Big Al). Costs something like $100 per 500 ft spool.

Dark Soul Chain Tool: don’t forget to order one of these if you’re going to use #25 chain.

The raw materials I especially suggest having around would be some 1/8" aluminum plate, 1x1 aluminum square tube, 1x2 aluminum rectangular tube, and a sheet of 1/16" or so polycarbonate. We get our polycarbonate for about $50 per 4’x8’ sheet from a local supplier (Cope Plastics), which is much cheaper than buying little chunks at retail prices.

3/4" Plywood for bumpers; fabric for bumpers; pool noodles for bumpers

Be prepared to buy lumber for field elements, but wait and see what the game requires. Just set aside a couple hundred bucks for that expense.

Wired X-Box controllers

Laptop for programming and driver’s station

1/2" hex stuff: hex stock, hex bearings, hex spacers, hex hubs, hex collars

18

I would like to emphasize this. The Rookie KOP comes with a Classmate driver’s station but I very much dislike it. I replaced ours a few years ago and we haven’t looked back. I fully recommend not using it except in an emergency. From our experience, even a $300 laptop is superior to the Classmate for programming and as a Driver’s Station.

Other than that, it’s going to depend on your budget.
Anderson Power Pole Connectors (see mouser)
Proper Crimping Tools (See powerwerx)
ZipCord wire (Example, cheaper sources are out there)
For very neat wiring and you can buy 4 conductor 22 AWG Belden Wire from Mouser.
About 6 extra batteries (make sure you buy the correct part numbers)
2x Triple 6A chargers (From Andymark)

I should post our suppliers somewhere.

19

For battery chargers we don’t use the Andymark ones because we find they are too expensive.

For a long time we have been using these chargers, they are similar to the kit of parts chargers but a little smaller and normally a bit cheaper. We’ve bought them for as low as $23.

This summer we purchased one of these that can trickle charge up to four batteries at a time with an adapter. We’ve been using it in our shop and haven’t had any problems yet. We’ll be doing some testing soon.