No idea when we will get our game elements here in Hawaii, so…
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Very cool! Do you have bucky balls from way back when, but not bankshot balls?
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Thanks! I inherited a mix of field elements from a previous coach/mentor at a different school. Working with elementary kids, haven’t formed a team, working on it.
Got one each of several HEXBUG via ebay, and the odd and long sets from VEX. And bought the last two years’ field sets as inspiration.
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I ordered the game kit over 2 weeks ago and have not heard anything from VEX either. Not exactly fast shipping for something that is supposedly “In Stock”.
So I 3D printed our own. Those odd-length pieces are not something we normally have in-house. Of course this is not “legal” for competition purpose, but good enough to get the kids an ideal of the size of the cube. Notice depending on the orientation of the cube, there is no space to “scoop” the cube from underneath.
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Ok, I have to try this.
What kind of filament and which printer did you use? Did you print the blue pins, too?
One tiny thing you missed - the vertical pieces are held together by a corner connect halfway up.
Seems small, but depending on your robot design, could be very significant.
I used both Amazon Basic PLA and Premium PLA. There is no particular reason behind the choice other than I have one roll of each and I wanted to use both of my printers at the same time to save time. Truthfully I can not tell the difference between the Basic vs. Premium PLA pieces.
As for the printers, they are the el-cheapo Chinese Creality Ender-3 and the more expensive Prusa MK3S. Ender-3’s print is more than adequate at the ~$200 price point. I am more than happy to talk about 3D printer if anyone is interested in the detail.
The only thing I printed is the beams. All the connectors/pins are official parts from VEX. All the source STEP files (beams, gears, pins, etc.) are all available from VEX’s website. You probably need to convert the STEP file to STL for your printer’s slicer program. I used the converter from “MakeXYZ”. Just Google “Makexyz step to stl”. It’s online and free.
VEX warned against printing any pins/connectors for good reason. They won’t work. Beams, on the other hand, came out great. Just make sure you orientate the piece correctly on the printer.
You are absolutely correct! That particular connector is something a standard Super Kit doesn’t include. The goal wasn’t to 100% comply to the build instructions, but rather have some “good enough” representation of the eventual cube. Like I mentioned before, connector is not something that can be 3D printed.
Without the mid-point connectors on the vertical pieces, the cube actually flexes a little bit if you try to “claw” it from the side. Obviously something the kids have to account for until the official ones are shipped.
We also don’t have plastic balls either (don’t have the old balls from previous years). I am thinking about purchasing some “ball pit ball” from Amazon that is 3" in diameter. Once again, obviously not “legal” but perhaps good enough for initial design purpose. The only question is how fast VEX can ship the real thing.