This was posted to answer a question regarding the use of Fasteners (Bolts) as axles - I felt that it may be overlooked being buried and wanted to make sure everyone saw this post - Hope this helps.
Keith,
After talking with Joe J. and Mike M. - we have decided to allow fasteners to be used as wheel axles under the following conditions.
- NO MOD parts must remain unmodified, don’t drill out the center hole on the sprockets to get a bigger bolt through.
- No precision machining rule remains intact
- The supporting a motor shaft rule does not change - please support the motor shafts so as not to bend them.
Remember, fasteners are intended to be used to “fasten” - that is there primary purpose - in this case we are going way outside the bounds of the fastener rule, to primarily make building the robots easier and more convenient for everyone. This is suppose to be fun, right?
Bearings used must comply with the rules as written. I would say that bushings are okay, but I don’t think roller skate bearings are on the additional hardware list.
Hopefully, this ruling will not cause anyone harm - we didn’t intend it to. We are hoping it will help.