since anodizing/painting legal vex parts aren’t allowed, can teams still use those or do we have to use the not colored ones
a. Anodizing, painting, dyeing or changing the color of any legal VEX part is prohibited. which is R23
But it says changing the color which by this ruling I would say that if they were bought like that they are legal due to you not changing the color but the company already made the color before you could do anything about.
This will need to be answered in the Q&A and not the forum. I would suggest since you are legally allowed to buy commodity hardware and that hardware can be bought in different colors you are fine. The flip side is Vex is the only legal source of gears and metal, therefore you can not paint/dye/etc those components.
But, yeah, put in a Q&A to make it official.
I believe the Robosource screws are still legal parts.
Certain non-VEX fasteners are allowed. Robots may use the following commercially available hardware:
They follow the above rule, so they should be legal in competitions. They also have not been modified from the teams purchase of them.
Given that the rule limiting screws to only stainless steel is no longer present, I imagine the color coded screws fall outside of the intent of this rule. The intent, from what I’ve heard, is to prevent teams from making fake vex C channels out of titanium and painting them to hide it.
Putting emphasis on “any legal VEX part”, not “Robosource part” or “commercially available part”. The GDC banned coloring parts to get rid of the few illegal titanium or alloy c-channels from China, since they were using paint to mask their contraband metal. Since screws, unlike c-channels, are commercially available for VRC, and there is no restriction on their material, there would be no point to making those illegal too.
For now, color coded shoulder screws should be legal, but if this rule isn’t clarified better I can see inspectors misinterpreting the rule.
So @random_416x_person @BananaPi , for now you should be allowed to use them. Just be prepared with the explanation above in case inspectors question you (which they probably won’t).
I’d guess (and hope) since they come like that, they’re good. My team uses these everywhere, and ngl, having to rebuy screws on top of c-channel and gears would be kinda brutal.
@cyberego I think it is already brutal enough to have to buy more field plates, new metal, gears, and a ai vision sensor that is only useful for a year.
I got curious what this might actually look like in dollars, so I ran some rough numbers based on a pretty typical “rebuy” list inspired by the much loved game manual 
Example parts list (per team)
-
36T gears ×2 — $37.98
-
48T gears ×2 — $37.98
-
60T gears ×1 — $18.99
-
16T sprocket ×1 — $27.49
-
24T sprocket ×1 — $27.49
-
1x1 angle ×2 — $59.58
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1x2 c-channel ×2 — $89.38
-
1x3 c-channel ×1 — $44.69
-
gear kits ×3 — $47.97
-
vision sensor ×1 — $95.00
Subtotal: $486.55
Shipping: $40.00
Total per team: $526.55
Assumptions
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Total teams: 14,304
-
Let’s say 50% are affected → 7,152 teams
Result
7,152 × $526.55 ≈ $3.77 million
Even if this list is a bit heavy and you cut it down a lot, you’re still easily in multi-million dollar territory.
Not saying this is what’s happening, just putting some numbers behind what a large-scale rebuy could look like.
Your quantities seem low. I can only imagine how much we will have to spend on new gears alone. Won’t leave me any $$ for the AV Vision sensor if my teams wanted them.
The number of parts there does seem low. Definitely a lot of rebuying whether that was the intent of the rule change or not 
Our team alone had 14 gears and 14 sprockets on our worlds bot, all dyed and unusable now.
Yeah, that’s fair. My list is probably low. It’s more like $800–$900 per team.
People will give GDC a lot of grace and come up with all kinds of Narnia explanations. Maybe some of that is true, but Occam’s razor… the cost impact here is pretty obvious and money talks.
Let’s be real, use 5% or less that have totally colored all their stock and need to rebuy everything, and that is generous.
Just because a lot of people on VEX Forum are upset, and I get it for teams who want to be visually expressive with their robots, it does not represent the way the vast majority of teams operate.
You don’t understand the nuance here if you think this is just about being visually creative. Let’s be real… few teams that have done this have just a few parts colored. I have a team that has 200 or so gears and sprockets colored. Attached is an image of their current stock, not including what is actually on the robot itself. The ban doesn’t just apply to gears and sprockets, although that’s what’s impacting my particular team. The team of mostly Juniors now has to scramble even more than usual to come up with funds for just one more season.
I’ve seen many comments on here that, to paraphrase, say it’s just rich teams that color their bots so who cares? That’s disingenuous at best. The team I’m referencing here is my son’s team. I’m a teacher. I don’t have disposable income lying around. We sacrifice vacations and much more to put this team on the field. The cumulative impact of these decisions is very real to us.
The teams that have put so much effort, time, and money into making their robots “visually expressive” are often the ones that are most passionate about robotics. To be dismissive of their experience and situation is disheartening. To chalk it up to them being in the minority is inexcusable.
As a teacher myself, I get it. Over 13 years of VEX robotics competition, I’ve only had one team paint c-channels. They’ve put on stickers. But generally they understand the equipment belongs to the school and used for classes as well (had to pause some of that post pandemic, but coming back on-line). Each organization has its own way of doing things. There will be organizations that go whole heartedly in branding their gear. My point in the post was mainly about assumption the total number of teams impacted by the rule was a bit extreme.
You’re not wrong. A lot of people are looking at this through a tiny regional bubble and acting like that’s the whole world.
In actually competitive regions, color customization wasn’t some rare flex. It was normal. Most teams did something. So yeah, this change hits a ton of teams, and not in a small way. There’s real cost, and it also takes away a legit part of the culture. Teams being able to show identity and not all look like they rolled off the same gray assembly line.
And the “this only affects rich teams” argument? That’s honestly hilarious.
Dye is like $14. Acetone, maybe $20. Congrats, you can now customize 100+ gears and sprockets. VEX parts cost way more than that. Spray paint for c-channel? Another $20 and you’re set for the season.
Meanwhile, VEX Robotics is out here charging a $25 minimum just to ship anything in the U.S., and it already costs thousands upon thousands to even field a team.
So no, this isn’t some elite “rich team” hobby. It’s one of the cheapest ways teams added personality.
If anything, banning it doesn’t level the playing field. It just makes everything more boring.