Since discussion of R6 and its implications have been brought up elsewhere, I thought we’d start a list of parts that are known to be illegal. Several Q&A’s have mentioned key parts that have been relatively common:
2.75 single-roller omni wheels
VEX clutch
Here’s a few more:
6" Wheel leg
VEX nut bar
Some are still available in kits; ex: v1 rack gears. Any others that should be of note?
The 6” leg wheels are still listed on the website under v5 products. We’re they made illegal from a qna?
I stand corrected
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It may be a good idea to also indicate the internal springs inside of clutches.
On another note: Did it go above my head not realizing the universal joint is now legal in VRC?
The old old bearing flats
Do we know if the thick 12t metal pinion without any inserts be considered legal?
The universal joints have been legal for years
The old bearing flats look to be illegal, although I don’t know that I’ve ever seen them in use. (I’ve been around as a mentor since 2013)
Yes, the 12 tooth gears without the inserts look to be illegal given the current hard line of R6. @drow @Grant_Cox
Looks like there needs to be a Q&A on those.
The old claw is still legal. It still has the V5 product tag so it is legal. The lockbar is also still legal.
Pretty straight forward since they haven’t been legal in a while, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to include them if we’re trying to make an all-inclusive “illegal parts” list:
Flashlight (still listed on the website, but is only compatible with Cortex and is not considered part of the “V5 Environment”; it also would be illegal anyways because of its nature)
Speaker (not listed on the website anymore)
Two-Wire Motors (obviously, but this includes the 393 motor refurb kit/turbo gear set because they aren’t considered part of the V5 environment)
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By this logic, I would think that in addition, any high strength sprocket without high strength holes would also be illegal, since every sprocket listed on the website now has the high strength holes where the inserts would go.
Example of a legal sprocket:
(Could be red or green)
Example of an illegal sprocket (according to R6):
(High strength hole is absent, and can only fit regular-sized axles)
Yea, and that is annoying since we’ve been through 2 games that sprockets were really helpful for, so there are boxes full of the different sizes.
I’m going to assume the @GDC has seen this and will be a little more judicial on blanket clearance on parts. They have all of March and April to figure it out for 2022-23
I might be okay with making discontinued parts illegal if they have been unavailable for so long that no current teams would have a reason to be using them, especially if they could provide a competitive advantage over currently-available parts but still don’t make sense for VEX to produce again.
I don’t agree with taking parts that most teams have already and making them illegal just because VEX made a newer version and has no reason to keep making the old one themselves.
I might also understand making a part illegal if it’s significantly worse than the current replacement and very few teams still use the old part, if the goal is to raise the minimum quality of teams encountered at an event (though I don’t think that’s a major goal for VEX or the RECF, since they want as many students as possible to get to experience robotics, and even Worlds).
To some extent, I don’t believe the rules intended for these minor changes to make the old parts illegal so soon after the new part’s release (e.g. the new omni wheels vs. the old omni wheels, even after most teams have switched).
Edited to add/revise:
If the parts which were discontinued but still on the VEX website are still legal, then I would assume things aren’t as bad as I might worry they would be. (But I would also prefer that the existing information about discontinued parts stays available without needing to use the Wayback Machine, so it can be used more easily by people who bought those parts in the past.)
If I felt that VEX or the RECF was forcing teams to purchase extra equipment they don’t really need, just to be allowed to compete, and they didn’t have a good enough reason for this, I would reconsider whether VRC is the best option for the teams I might help create/fund, though it’s possible I might still choose VRC if it was still the best option available in spite of these flaws. (I would also be more understanding if I thought this was VEX’s way of recovering costs from the ways they helped students during the pandemic, though I assume some of those decisions, like running Live Remote Tournaments/Skills/Worlds, were on the part of the RECF and likely not VEX.)
I believe when they were switching the sprockets to support high strength axles, they were under the same listing/part number, rather than selling the new sprockets as a separate part. ie if you purchased a sprocket, you could be given either depending upon what was in stock. This would mean that they aren’t treated as two separate products, so as long as the current sprockets are listed then the old ones are still legal.
I’m guessing the pinon without inserts is legal because other than not having an insert they’re identical to the ones with inserts when they have inserts in them (sorry if my phrasing is a little confusing) although I could be wrong because the LS shaft sprockets are apparently might be illegal under the same “they’re not on the website” premise as @logician said
Edit I should rephrase: it does seem no insert pinions are illegal but if you use them I doubt that it give you trouble but then again it’s not really worth risking so unless you dont have any with inserts and have no choice but to use them it’s probably best you dont
And at the same time our team has used the sprockets with no HS shaft in the previous competition and turning point and while I’m not sure if they were discontinued by turning point or not, I am pretty sure they were discontinued by change up but we’ve never had trouble with inspections with those. (And like it sounds very difficult to enforce)
As a mentor in a title 1 school in a district where every HS but one is a title 1 school, we will probably withdraw from VEX all together if all our green gears, omni wheels, and sprockets have to be replaced to be legal next season. It was a stretch to get the V5 electronics and motors but the motors were definitely worth it. However, having to replace green HS gears with red ones is just short of insulting.
I’m pretty sure green ones are still legal and long as they still have the hs inserts because they’re otherwise identical
Identical doesn’t matter this season. Previous seasons had R6d, which stated, “Any parts which are identical to legal VEX parts are permitted. For the purposes of this rule, products which are identical in all ways except for color are permissible.” However, this rule is not present in this season’s game manual, and the GDC has noted that its removal is intentional.
Previous season’s game manuals do not apply to this season. The only rules in force this year are in this year’s game manual.
Oh wow really? Our team never really needed to use sprockets this season so we never really made 100% sure that the old ones are legal but if they really banned sprockets they sold that are identical aside from color from ones they also sell then that is new levels of messed up
Ok, really started this to find parts that were clearly meant to be illegal under R6. A lot of what is coming up with sprockets and gears I would expect the GDC to come back with G3 Use Common Sense.
In the case of the 12 tooth metal pinions, the one with the 1/8" bore without the inserts carried the same part number as the current model. Same with HS sprockets and 4" wheels. Same part number should clearly make them legal.
