Documents like Spectrum’s First $1000 and First $10000 are awesome but they are very US centric.
I’d love to see similar resources for teams with different constraints. For example:
I have no prize but I can give likes?
** This could be international or teams in more remote areas where shipping is less frequent.
For international teams I expect the answer will be very dependent on your location and the physical/online stores available to you. For us, that means buying as much as possible from local stores and bulk buys from FRC suppliers (to reduce shipping costs), and fewer small purchases from online retailers (Amazon, McMaster, etc) like US FRC teams might do. But that will probably depend on the exact stores and prices available in your location.
I don’t know what exactly what you mean by FTC partner team, but I am working on a list of tools for FTC teams at the price points of $50, $150, $500, and $1000; it’s nowhere near done yet, as I still need to explain what each tool is useful for and finish the $1000 tier, but you can find it here: FTC Tools - Google Sheets.
I agree.
If you don’t have a machine shop, find a team that has one in your area. (I think this is common for both US and international teams )
Clone the COTS (Cheaper and Faster. ). Round the inch values to metric. There are some exceptions like planetary gearboxes.
Note: It depends on the country. Countries have different purchasing powers and taxes. There is no list because prices can change in unstable currency.
There is a thread about FRC in Europe
This is a biggie. Greyt is, well, great, in that regard. Take the CAD and throw directly at the CNC router for sub 1-day turnaround. If you’re relying on a sponsor’s machine shop just add a case of their preferred beverage for similar results.
Though I have some moral issues with directly cloning a commercial product, it seems reasonable here where you literally can’t buy the product to use it during the season in a reasonable timeframe (or if your school’s purchasing department still mails paper cheques…).
Toss some gift cards to Adam and RC if you make it to champs; seems fair enough
I gave that example for small products as bearing block.
Note : My team bought products from wcp last year.
I would rather a team use the GreyT CAD than not, if they’re already not purchasing.
It’s nice to make a few bucks for Victoria’s college fund, but my primary motivation is to help (in a very small way) raise the floor of FRC.
RC might have differing thoughts 
I think you’re selling yourself quite a bit short from what I’ve seen, especially at the few 2020 regionals. The GreyT line has taken countless corded drill and hacksaw teams up another level, and I’ve heard nothing but praise from dozens of students, especially the programmers (as I’m sure you’re aware that can be quite the sticking point for rookie teams).
I’ve been looking into finding substitutes this this year, Brazil has one of the most bureaucratic and expensive import regulations, luckly a few years ago StemOS was created making the access easier for FRC and FTC cots, but our default way of obtaining FRC cots is still well…, maybe not the most legal, so I turned into old FRC items meta, before the cots revolution, I had some limited success in finding blue nitrile tread, and colson like wheels
still need more research, but it’s a start.
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