What we bought - Fall 2018

A lot of teams ask us where we buy stuff, so occasionally we'll just post about the things we bought and where to get it. 

Amazon

• Snap Ring Groove Cutters .043" - These are for cutting heavy duty snap rings on 1/2" shafts or regular snap rings on 3/4" shafts
• 4 AWG Wire - New Battery wire, flexible 4 AWG.
• White and Black 12AWG Silicone Wire -  Similar to what comes pre-installed on Talon SRX speed controllers. This is our go to wire for motors.
• Allen Wrench Folding Set - Very useful during the season and reasonably priced.
• Gallon of cutting fluid - Used in our horizontal bandsaw we also have some squirt bottles with a very diluted mixture in them for other cutting and drilling tasks. The gallon container will last you multiple seasons.
• Bob Smith 103 Super Glue - This is really good super glue
• Cheap Needle File Set - great for fixing up 3d printed parts, or getting into hard to reach places
• Double Stick Polyimide Tape - Used for sticking 3d printed build plates your heated bed
• Nice 3D print removal tools - We have a couple $1 store paint scrapers that work okay but these are better but cost more.

McMaster.com

• 1/2" Snap Rings
• 9/16" Snap Rings - Useful for going on hex shaft without first turning it down to 1/2"
• Tubing Connector for 7/8" tube - 7/8" aluminum tube is a similar OD to 1/2" PVC so we can use it for stronger Protopipe mechanisms.
• 5/16" O-Ring - These can go over 1/2" thunderhex shaft and work similar to VEX IQ rubber shaft collars. This is useful for quick prototypes or places where you might need to adjust often or you just don't have shaft collars. 
• 1/2" OD - 1/4" ID Aluminum Hex Tube - This is 6061 hex shaft that for us at least came in slightly undersized so it fits in bearings and hubs easily. It also comes with a 1/4" hex hole so you can you it as a spacer for 1/4" bolts or an adapter down to 1/4" hex if you need to make a small mechanism. The 3/4" to 1/2" is also useful if you need a bigger hex profile.
• High Flow Solenoids 1.0 CV - These are the high flow solenoids that we used on our 2018 cube launcher mechanism

Zoro.com 

• Tstack Big Drawer - Stackable tool boxes that we use at events
• Tstack Double Drawer
• Tstack Large Top Box
• PETG Sheets 2'x2'  - 1'x2' - PETG is a great plastic for the laser cutter, it's 70-75% the strength of Polycarbonate but a lot cheaper and works with the laser cutter much better.
• Acetal Sheet 1'x2' - Acetal (or Delrin) is an engineering grade plastic that cuts very cleanly on a laser cutter.
  

This is just a sample of the items we purchase, hopefully this will give you an idea of some of the things you can buy to help your FRC team.

- Spectrum