Spectrum 2018 Resource Collection - CAD, Design, Mechanisms, Electrical, & more

Blog Post

We have released several new resources this fall and also updated some of our old resources. We collected them here so they are easier to find.

Spectrum Robot Design Sheet - DesignSheet.spectrum3847.org
[ul]
[li]Designed to be a centralized resource to use while designing FRC robots. Each page includes part specifications and calculations that you can use to help in the design process.
[/li][li]Many of the COTS parts common to FRC robots have their size and other design parameters included here so you don’t have to open up the part in CAD to measure or find and download the drawings every time you need to quickly add something to a sketch or prototype.
[/li][li]We keep a copy of this sheet for each robot that we build and then add new pages for each module/subsystem on our robot. That way we can keep track of our design decisions, variables, part numbers, etc in one centralized place.
[/li][li]Features
[/li][LIST][li]Belt, Chain, and Gear C-C calculators.
[/li][li]Simple drive train, and mechanism calculators.
[/li][li]Pneumatic cylinder base lengths, clevis, lengths and more.
[/li][li]Gas spring retracted and extended lengths.
[/li][li]Sample Module page to document your robot design variables, and decisions.
[/li][li]Drill sizes, & bolt sizes
[/li][li]Electronics status light reference[/ul]
[/li][li]CD post about the Robot Design Sheet is here
[/li][/LIST]
Spectrum Design Concepts Slides - Design.spectrum3847.org
[ul]
[li]This is an accumulation of information to help design FRC robots from physics and design basics all the way to FRC COTS parts. There are nearly 200 slides that were used to teach FRC design each week during the fall semester of 2017.
[/li][li]CD Post about these slides is here.
[/li][/ul]
Spectrum Solidworks CAD Library - CAD.Spectrum3847.org
[ul][li]Updated Solidworks CAD Library with new products for the 2018 season from VEXpro, AndyMark, REV Robotics, Arambot, and more.
[/li][li]Added pneumatic cylinder CAD models provided by Milkenknights Thank you Marcusbernstein for putting that together.
[/li][li]If there is anything missing from the library please let us know. This is the most complete library that we know of for FRC.
[/li][/ul]
Spectrum FRC Mechanisms Library - Mechanisms.Spectrum3847.org[ul]
[li]Photo gallery of 2017 and 2016 robot mechanisms.
[/li][li]We will be updating this with 2018 mechanisms and past mechanisms that inspire us during the 2018 season. [/ul]
[/li]FIRST $1000 - 1000.spectrum3847.org
[ul][li]Our recommendations for the first $1000 you should spend on tools as a brand new FRC team.[/ul]
[/li]Spectrum Electrical Guide - Electrical.spectrum3847.org[ul]
[li]A still under construction electrical guide for how Spectrum does our electrical wiring.
[/li][li]Some people will find this useful. It will be fully developed through out 2018.[/ul]
[/li]What’s in the Box? - Blog Posts[ul]
[li]A look at how we organize some of our parts and tools.[/ul]
[/li]Recommended Reading - spectrum3847.org/recommendedreading[ul]
[li]Our favorite resources that help teams become better at FRC.
[/li][li]These are the items that have taught and inspired us over the years. [/ul]
[/li]Behind the Lines: Social Media Best Practices
[ul][li]Video - socialmediabtl.spectrum3847.org
[/li][li]Slides[/ul]
[/li]Spectrum JeVois Test Project - github.com/Spectrum3847/SpectrumJeVois[ul]
[li]A simple test project for using the JeVois camera in an FRC Java project.
[/li][li]CD thread
[/li][/ul]
Bonus Stuff
[ul]
[li]The tools you can’t get through FRC build season without?
[/li][li]Favorite robot parts teams should know about
[/li][li]Electrical Test Board for Prototypes
[/li][li]Fixing a stuck USB cable in a roboRIO
[/li][/ul]

  • Spectrum

“If you have a candle, the light won’t glow any dimmer if I light yours off of mine.” - Steven Tyler

Hats off to you and your team Allen. We have been working hard at rebuilding our team this year and the reseources that you have been sharing have been huge for us. Thank you for being so generous.

1 Like

All of this is so awesome, thank you! Do you mind if I go ahead and convert your Solidworks library to Inventor and publish it? It’s really great all the effort you guys put into getting all the files and I’d really like to use it all.

Please do a lot of this isn’t our work, countless people have put in effort to make the library what it is. We just maintain it.

This is fantastic. Thanks to everyone involved.

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again here, what your team has been compiling has been completely life changing for me. Thank you and you definitely deserve recognition for this.

**Spectrum Driver Station Disable Processes Script
**
Here are two scripts we wrote to enable and disable several of the window’s processes on your driver station computer when you are connected to the robot. This will turn off windows firewall, defender, update and superfetch. This should make your CPU more stable and allow for less packet loss. Read the “Read Me” file for how to install and use the scripts.

Spectrum Disable Processes Script

Driver Station Upgrade Documentation

Thanks for putting together these awesome resources!! Spectrum’s contribution to the FRC community this past season (and likely before though I have no clue) has been incredible. I’m happy that I could help support this library and really appreciate everything Spectrum has done and shared for other teams this offseason.