To make sure nothing off or prior season we took a big garbage can and threw all custom stuff we built out in the garbage. Over 20 lb of 3d printed plastic, prototypes, brackets, 2 whole bumble bot frames worth all parts that could be reused in different or same configuration if we have a frame again with wheels measuring about 120 in circumference. Guess FRC hates it if you make stuff yourself - breaks my heart.,
How do you who machined your custom swerve drive or frame components or elevator, gear boxes etc deal with that?
They improve them every year and make new ones. They also use the old parts for display and practice robots and prototyping and fun and to send hope with their students, etc.
To make a practice robot you need a roborio, talons , motors etc - we are not quite there yet financially. and yes we believe in improving but for example this years bracket that connects the Andymark gearbox to an andymark wheel looks exactly as last years - is the same color, same material same hole pattern - well if we use wheels which we find out saturday maybe this is the year of submarines
Yeah we saved the nuts and bolts - very little aluminum which was saved We are researching for ways to turn the plastic back into filament reliably and consistently and economically But last robot we built was all 3DP except wheels motors and gearboxes and this years will be too
Its more the price of using additive manufacturing but I guess holds true for machining too. Now question is should it be.
Last season we even printed some string pots from team (idk right now) now we could have bought them from andymark but printed them ourselves so with that in the garbage they went
I don’t get it. The economy for FRC is well known, has been this way (with minor year-over-year modifications that have well telegraphed) for at least as long as your team has existed. You cain’t reuse custom made parts that you created pre-season. Build a second robot, build an outreach robot, reuse the publically shared files you’ve created. I hear you that you can’t afford the required parts for a second robot. Lots of teams struggle with that. Why not use your $450 with AndyMark and your FIRST choice to get the parts you are missing? I hope that, with your 3DP capabilities you aren’t using the kitbot this year. Anyway, I have some other ideas that might help, send me a pm if you’d like to discuss.
Yeah I know been doing it for 10 years now. But I think its time to change some things. 10 years ago additive manufacturing was not in most peoples vocab and the machining usually was making a hole here or there in our case with a hand drill
Locked closet? we got a room that if I have more than 8 kids at a time I got to send them someplace else to do some programming or business work. We are lucky we got the room we have we got a 3DP/machining room now that is 6x12 which increase our space by 50%.
Besides we have the edict to make sure that there is no possibility of intermingling as this would be an ethics violation. Well at least for this year its done. I got some pieces here I might use in a youtube video at some time
Anyone correct me if I am wrong, but you should be able to use those frames if you have never used them before. It would solve quite a bit of issues. You would also have aluminum for other parts if you used the frame pieces creatively.
The other thing is since it seems most of your issues are financial, have your students email companies near by and ask them for stuff. Whether it is metal, wood, polycarbonate, or anything that could be used on a robot. Even if what you want is expensive and seems like you won’t get a donation, just ask. The worse they can say is no. If the company isn’t local, still ask, they may be willing to ship it for free.