Manufacturing help for worlds?

Question

Hello all, I am from team 3863 and we need some help. Our robot and gear is going to be shipped to Houston on Sunday (tomorrow) and we don’t have any spares of our intake pivot plate. Would anyone in the Houston area be able to make some for us? It is made from 3/16" 6061 aluminum and is about 8" by 12.5". If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

I see it’s been a while since you've posted, but I just wanted to ask—did you end up finding local machining help or another solution for your parts? We’ve run into similar last-minute needs before and leaned on nearby teams or even local maker spaces. I'd love to hear how things worked out, and maybe others can still chime in with contacts or tips in case someone else runs into the same thing.

Answer 2

I've had luck reaching out to local shops directly through email with a quick drawing and asking if they had time for a small job. Also, if you’re still hunting for facility resources or equipment ideas, modutek.com has some cool info on fabrication setups and might give you leads on who to contact or what’s possible if you're thinking beyond just quick fixes.

Answer 3

I ran into the same kind of confusion setting things up, especially with keeping track of changes across jobs. Switching to https://acupowererp.com/acumatica/construction helped me pull everything under one roof. Stuff like tracking materials, schedules, and budget changes got way easier. I like that I don’t have to jump between tools anymore, and it’s simpler explaining things to the team since it’s all clear in one place.