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CodoDragons Tips & Tricks for Hardware 
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We are FTC Team CodoDragons, a second-year team based in Santa Clara, California. Below are some hardware tips we learned from our past season and the 2023-2024 season. We hope it helps! 

 

  1. Exposure: At the beginning of the year, our team tried something different. In our past season, we had never used industrial machines such as the bandsaw, deburring machine, drill press, etc. We realized that to utilize all of our resources we had to get familiar with certain machines. Our entire team, including software and outreach, learned how to use the machines we had available, that way there was no knowledge gap. We used our practice with the machines by making supports for a table that our machinery rests on now!

  2. Brainstorming: We used a whiteboard that anyone could draw on. It helped us organize our sub-assemblies better. For example, we would have one section where a group was working on the idea for the intake and another section where someone was working on the pixel presenter. Anytime we weren’t sure what the next steps were, we would go over to the whiteboard and it would help organize our thoughts. We recommend having a place where everyone can see what's happening, whether that be a whiteboard or something digital. [picture]

  3. Materials: This year we did not just use GoBuilda parts. We experimented with different materials. We recommend not just blindly ordering parts online, but going to a hardware store to see what kind of materials you may find there. This can also be more helpful when trying to make something brand new that can’t be done with GoBuilda Parts. 

  4. Exploring new concepts: For our claw, we brainstormed MANY ideas before we ended up on our final design. We used Legos to create mock-ups, took inspiration from everyday objects, and learned about new metal parts. Although not all your ideas may be used, it's important to document it along the way, because you may iterate it in the future. Don’t try to make your solutions too complicated, sometimes the easiest way to solve a problem is the best way to solve it! 

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