How to Improve Build Quality?

[93400A]

This is my second year participating in the Vex Robotics Competition, and all of my team’s robots haven’t been very good. I was wondering if anyone had any good tips that have helped them make robots with better build quality?

[madisogl]

First of all, a good understanding of friction and momentum goes a long way. Also try and teach them the core basics such as gear ratios. Also, if your teams put in lots of time and care thats what ultimately will make them better.

[Gigahertz.t]

Brace everything

Nothing should be cantelivered or supported by less than 2 points.

[jacuzzi]

If you aren’t already, use nylocks. Where not possible, use green loctite

[jacuzzi]

I’m gonna elaborate a bit more because I was a bit quick with it. If you’re mainly using keps nuts or normal nuts, use nylock nuts wherever possible. They stop the bolts from coming loose due to vibrations and shock.

For motors, brains, standoffs, that sort of thing, use Loctite 290 (don’t use any other type. those require heat and/or a lot more torque to remove) on the bolt and standoff/insert. The material is wicking, so it will travel up and down the threads even if part of the bolt is already threaded. It should come apart with normal hand tools. Use the absolute smallest amount you can, as you just need a little bit to stop the bolt from shaking itself loose.

[turbodog]

Read this:

What makes something good build quality?

First, to specifically answer your question. Good build quality is when the bot operates at the limits of the materials & design NOT the quality of assembly, the motor power is put to use moving stuff not creating friction/heat, and you don’t have to keep fixing stuff that breaks. To achieve that, here are some guidelines. Bearings should be checked to make sure the shaft rotates without friction or feeling ‘notchy’. If you feel notches, the bearing is damaged (usually from overtightening). …

[1469E]

My team has improved our robot builds by experimenting with multiple designs, and figuring out what was not efficient enough about our robot, and what was. We ended up keeping some components, and changing some. If you are thinking about adding/removing sub-systems (components), it helps to make a list of the pros and cons, and again, to find out if it is efficient enough. This can help decide what to do with one or more components. Adding on, making a list of what your team wants your robot to be able to do/accomplish can help focus your goals more. For example, if your team wants to be able to hang very high at the end of a match, maybe start to research and build different prototypes to accomplish that goal.

[meng]

@1469E

My team has improved our robot builds by experimenting with multiple designs, and figuring out what was not efficient enough about our robot, and what was. We ended up keeping some components, and changing some. If you are thinking about adding/removing sub-systems (components), it helps to make a list of the pros and cons, and again, to find out if it is efficient enough. This can help decide what to do with one or more components. Adding on, making a list of what your team wants your robot to be able to do/accomplish can help focus your goals more. For example, if your team wants to be able to hang very high at the end of a match, maybe start to research and build different prototypes to accomplish that goal.

What you have mentioned are about design of robots. It is nothing got to do with build quality.
eg. you can have a perfectly designed robot but the implementation was bad - shaft not fully inserted in, c-channels misaligned, etc.

[1469E]

Oops, sorry that’s my fault. Thank you for the correction.