The 411 on the CNC Mill

A couple of weeks ago, we received a grant from the Ball Brother Foundation. With this grant we purchased a CNC Mill.

After talking with Mike Koch a head mentor here at PhyXTGears, I began to have a better understanding of what exactly a CNC Mill does and how important it is that we have one now. We have a regular mill here in our machine room, it can cut on three different dimensions/axis' (x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis). And although it has been useful so far, you can only cut on one axis at a time and even then, it may not come out as perfectly as you need it to. Mike described it as an Etch a Sketch, if you grew up using those fun toys you know that you can create some pretty cool stuff, but it's going to come out with squiggly and choppy lines sometimes.

So here is the cool news about the CNC Mill, it has four different dimensions and axis' that you can program it to cut on. ( the x, y, z, and a-axis). They can all be working at the same time to cut away the material you put in. This machine will easily "Make parts that can't be made by man." says Mike. It can make intricate designs out of metal, it can make parts and edges just the way you need them to be with ease. No choppy edges or squiggly lines. Everything is just as smooth and exact as you need it to be.

We can't thank the  Ball Brother Foundation enough for their generous grant, and we can't wait to see the full extent of everything we can accomplish here with the CNC Mill.

Setting up the new CNC Mill

World Championship Series: Part 7 "Reflecting on the Past, and Pressing Towards the Future"

As far as I can gather, FIRST is unlike any other team you might ever find yourself a part of. The community, the atmosphere, the teamwork. It’s all completely unique. No other program encompasses learning, fun, hard work, gracious professionalism, and the lessons taught by defeat like FIRST. I said in a previous blog post that I felt like I had graduated from the team when the final buzzer sounded on the final match we played at state. Then I was mistaken but, now, I really have graduated and I’m getting ready to finish my senior year and pack up for college. Leaving the PhyXTGears will be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but, regardless, I wouldn’t trade my time on the team for the world.

Happy and Tired after Worlds

In conclusion, because I know this series is way too long as it is, I wanted to point out for everyone reading that our robot this year was accidentally named “Not Yet.” At first I didn’t like the name, despite being the person who named it, but soon I realized it had a deeper meaning. This year our team got further than we have in our entire history. But, we didn’t win. Not yet. If anything, this year showed us that we could. With enough hard work, and a little bit of luck, we could go all the way. And next year, I would like to go on the record and predict right now, we will go all the way again. All the way to St. Louis. And, who knows, maybe all the way to Einstein. Muncie could be home to a world champion robotics team. It wouldn’t surprise me at all. So, just to get it out there early, if this year’s robot was “Not Yet,” I vote next year’s robot should be “This Year.” Or maybe “Okay, Now.” I’m flexible.Thanks to everyone for making my time with the PhyXTGears the best five years it possibly could have been.

Sincerely,

~Ryan Spangler

If you missed Part 6 "Homeward Bound" Check it Out!

World Champion Series: Part 6 "Homeward Bound"

  The bus ride back seemed longer than the bus ride going there had, but not in a bad way. Everyone was so tired but also happy. We had built a robot in just six weeks that was good enough to attend two district competitions, the Indiana FIRST State Championship, and the FRC World Championship. Not to mention place 37th in the entire world. We wouldn’t figure that out for another couple of days. Pretty good for one season’s work. And a pretty good way to spend my last year on the team. Truthfully I’ll miss FIRST. There was one moment, on the bus, where I just sat back and realized everything that I had gained as a member of this team. All around me were people who were laughing and smiling and enjoying each other’s company

Leaving St. Louis after an exciting competition

At one end of the bus a group of students took turn playing Xbox while, at the other, a mass of people crowded around a little table for a marathon card game tournament. And not just students, mentors and parents too. In that moment I realized I guess I owe FIRST a lot. Not just in the academic aspects but also in memories and lifelong friends. Because everyone on that bus that night was nothing short of a best friend to me.

In case you missed part 5 "Einstein On The Edge" Check it out

World Championship Series: Part 5 "Einstein On The Edge"

Once each division had a victor, we packed up our pit and got a good seat for the finals. For these last eight alliances, they tore down all but two fields and called them Einstein. Never have I seen a more intense set of FIRST game played. These were the best eight alliances on the planet. There wasn’t a single team there that didn’t deserve a spot on Einstein and was good enough to show why. 

The Crowd Awaits Einstein

 One after another the finals were played and FIRST really pulled out all the stops. There even was a “Match Break” desk where two First officials would sit. Between every match, they would come on like sports casters and break down what happened in the last match. Reporters walked the two fields, getting interviews from the competing drive teams that would suddenly play for the whole stadium to see on the building sized screens. They even had cameras that would sweep across the packed house of cheering fans when a good dance song came on. That’s one of my all-time favorite things about FIRST: It doesn’t matter if you’ve lost, it doesn’t matter who it is that beat you, every team genuinely wants every other team to do the absolute best that they can no matter what. Good luck finding another sporting event where both sides want theiropponent to play their best, even in defeat.

Confetti From Above

In the end, it was the alliance from our division that would win it all. Confetti rained from the ceiling as the last official match of Recycle Rush came to a close and FIRST crowned a new world champion. As for our little team from Indiana, we loaded back onto the bus and said goodbye to St. Louis. It might be the last time for me, but I am sure with 100% confidence that the PhyXTGears will be back to St. Louis again. Or, at least wherever the World Championship is being held in the coming years.

Did you miss Part 4 "Glory Road"? Check it out! 

World Championship Series: Part 4 "Glory Road"

I will never forget my first time stepping onto Newton Field. I was our driver and was purely humbled by being able to be here and get to drive at St. Louis. Stepping onto the field was especially significant for me. This year, because we assumed each competition we attended would be our last, I never knew when it would be my last time on a real FRC field. I guess it was only fitting then that our first match was one of the worst we had ever played. It was time to come back to reality. We were here, but it was time to buckle down and do what we came to do: compete.

Over the next several days we rose through the rankings one match at a time, each one with seemingly a whole new set of challenges, rewards, and struggles. The low point of the qualifications came before they even started when we realized we were missing a key robot component and had to improvise a spare that we would then use throughout the competition. The high point was when we randomly got paired with the team that would go on to be the world champion and nearly broke the world record in number of points scored in a match. In the end, we made it to the top eight and held onto 6th. 

The Team Driving "Not Yet"

At alliance selection, we were hoping to be picked by a higher team but were also prepared to be Alliance Captains ourselves. The latter ended up being the case and we went into the quarterfinals of the Newton Division as the fifth Alliance Captain. We moved a condensed version of our pit into the Dome and prepared to see if we could go all the way. After a few matches in the quarterfinals, it was clear we would not move to the semis.

"Not Yet" in Action

Our best few matches were those last few, but we were simply not as good as the competition. And I don’t think a single person on our team, or on our Alliance Partner teams, was unhappy with how those last few matches turned out. We played our best and that was all that mattered. If you missed out on Part 3 "The Fields of Science" Check it Out!