Machining

Advantages of Machining

• Machining allows teams to create practically any part without limitations.

• Machining allows teams to create custom drivetrain plates, arms, linear slides, etc to fit their design needs more effectively than kits.

Disadvantages of Machining

• Perhaps the biggest barrier when making a fully custom robot is that it requires very expensive manufacturing equipment. While 3D printers have become more and more common in FTC and allow teams to create or customize small parts, many teams do not have access to equipment such as lathes, routers, waterjet cutters, or CNC machines.

• Fully custom robots need to be fully designed in CAD. Sketching will not cut it when building custom robots.

• Another barrier is that prototyping with fully custom systems is almost always much slower than using kit parts. This is because the full CAD process takes time, and fabrication/getting parts fabricated by a shop or sponsor is another lengthy process. Notwithstanding those two factors, if something goes drastically wrong then it will require a repeat process of CAD and fabrication.

It must be noted that teams do not need to pick between a fully kit-based robot or a fully custom robot. In fact, many successful teams are actually a hybrid of both kit and custom parts, as can be seen in many of example robots in this section.

8680 Kraken Pinion, Division Semifinalist (Detroit Worlds), Rover Ruckus

Kit-based drivetrain (Actobotics) and horizontal linear slides (REV) with a custom intake, housing, and mineral container. Kit linear actuator (Actobotics) with custom hook.

8393 Giant Diencephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team, Winning Alliance First Pick (Detroit), Relic Recovery, fully custom

731 Wannabee Strange, Rover Ruckus, Design Award Finalist (Houston)

3D printed (PETG and TPU) and machined (milled) arm/intake

Custom HDPE drive train (CNC routed)