This was brought up on VTOW this evening and I thought it seemed interesting.
SendCutSend is a service where you upload CAD drawings and materials to make them from, and they laser-cut them for you and send them back to you.
My questions are the following:
Would designing a part and having it machined for you by a service such as this one violate <G3> and/or <G6>
If this is confirmed to be allowed, how many teams would be interested in actually using a service such as this one? What kinds of plastic would you want to be able to make things from?
Just for the record, I do not have an interest in using this service, nor do I have an opinion on its legality. Just curious as to what everyone else thinks.
I think a custom ordered part still qualifies as a commercial available product, in which case it would be illegal. I think there was a Q&A a while back about a service similar to this, and if my memory is right recf ruled it illegal. I’ll try to find it.
I think you have this backwards. The only reference to commercially available product in the game manual are stating that they are allowed, and custom stuff is not.
I would encourage people to go comment and let SCS know that this is a worthwhile investment for them - it would be great for teams to have universal cheap access to CNC.
For some context on SCS: they have a $20 minimum order, with ridiculously cheap prices on machine time, and like 3-day free shipping or something like that. They offer a great service and them having VEX-legal materials is definitely a good thing.
There’s no way to prove how you acquired your custom cut polycarbonate. Quite frankly, if it was illegal, it’s sure not an enforceable rule. It also wouldn’t be fair to only allow teams that can afford their own CNC to have custom parts (that do in fact give significant advantages). The logic would be incoherent.
i think that this is a great way for lower end teams to still be able to compete with the better teams, i think that a lot of top teams this year have used cnc or laser cut poly to aide in their building. for reference, 2114x, to build mechanisms like this( ) it is very difficult to make with standard vex parts and tools, and also with the availability to get fast custom machined parts it allows for fast and easy prototyping. this gives teams with more money the even bigger advantage, which is why vex is trying to not let 3d printing legal. they say that it isn’t as accessible to teams yet it is sub 200$ for a good 3d printer where the same quality in a cnc or laser cutter is on average about 100+ dollars more. over all i think that this would be very useful and very accessible to teams without the funds to buy a 3d printer or their own cnc.
) it is very difficult to make with standard vex parts and tools, and also with the availability to get fast custom machined parts it allows for fast and easy prototyping. this gives teams with more money the even bigger advantage, which is why vex is trying to not let 3d printing legal. they say that it isn’t as accessible to teams yet it is sub 200$ for a good 3d printer where the same quality in a cnc or laser cutter is on average about 100+ dollars more. over all i think that this would be very useful and very accessible to teams without the funds to buy a 3d printer or their own cnc.