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Procolsaurus
04-02-2016, 11:27
What fabric did your team choose this year to cover their bumpers?
Al Skierkiewicz
04-02-2016, 11:34
1000D Cordura is recommended and that is what we use. That is not a choice on your survey.
Jon Stratis
04-02-2016, 11:36
1000D Cordura is recommended and that is what we use. That is not a choice on your survey.

Same here. Bumpers are already cut and printed, and sewing started last night!
JohnBoucher
04-02-2016, 11:37
1000D Cordura is recommended and that is what we use. That is not a choice on your survey.

Ditto. Some retailers call it Duck Cloth.
MrForbes
04-02-2016, 11:37
you forgot "what came in FIRST Choice"
Procolsaurus
04-02-2016, 11:44
Cordura is a nylon blend and Duck cloth is 100% cotton.
Tim Sharp
04-02-2016, 11:50
1000D Cordura is recommended and that is what we use. That is not a choice on your survey.

Cordura is a brand name of Nylon. We use the same material. We order it from Seattle Fabrics.
Conor Ryan
04-02-2016, 12:03
Super relevant thread (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129276)

Has anyone successfully used multiple bumper materials? I haven't checked the Q&A but the rules do not address it.

Friction with Polycarb should be a concern this year because of the gates. Bumper engineering was coming of age in later 2014, but 2015's game set it back a year.
Sperkowsky
04-02-2016, 12:15
We are using the Slick bumper material (Nylon) from AM.
RoboChair
04-02-2016, 13:59
Citrus Circuits uses Ballistic Nylon on our bumpers.
GeeTwo
04-02-2016, 21:51
Super relevant thread (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129276)

Has anyone successfully used multiple bumper materials? I haven't checked the Q&A but the rules do not address it.

Friction with Polycarb should be a concern this year because of the gates. Bumper engineering was coming of age in later 2014, but 2015's game set it back a year.

R21 c requires that the pool noodles be consistent around the robot, but I did not see anything requiring consistent fabric. We purchased both "traditional" and "slick" fabric from AndyMark shortly before the game reveal. As we have a largely offensive strategy, we plan to make bumpers from the slick "sailcloth" material. We will probably also make a set with the classic cordura and have them handy in case we get called on to play defense; there's no rule I can find that says you can't bring and use four sets of bumpers!
dradel
04-02-2016, 21:57
Only thing I remember seeing is the weight limit per set.
DarkRune
04-02-2016, 22:26
Citrus Circuits uses Ballistic Nylon on our bumpers.

Care to share a link to what you use? I know my team is looking into ballistic nylon, I'm curious to where teams are sourcing theirs from.
Richard Wallace
04-02-2016, 22:27
We are going with the slick fabric from RoboPromo (http://www.robopromo.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RP-2002).
RoboChair
05-02-2016, 12:46
Care to share a link to what you use? I know my team is looking into ballistic nylon, I'm curious to where teams are sourcing theirs from.

http://www.rockywoods.com/Fabrics-Kits/Ballistic-Nylon-Fabrics/1680D-Coated-Ballistic-Nylon-Fabric-with-Durable-Water-Repellent-Finish

Dark Navy and Red
Alex Cormier
23-02-2016, 01:01
http://www.rockywoods.com/Fabrics-Kits/Ballistic-Nylon-Fabrics/1680D-Coated-Ballistic-Nylon-Fabric-with-Durable-Water-Repellent-Finish

Dark Navy and Red

How does this stuff differ from rip stop nylon?
Mike Marandola
23-02-2016, 01:11
How does this stuff differ from rip stop nylon?
Ballistic nylon is thicker, not as slick, and more similar to 1000D Cordura nylon. We ran CoF tests on about 16 different fabrics, including the ballistic nylon from Rockywoods, and found that it was slicker than Cordura nylon, but not as slick as ripstop.
Alex Cormier
23-02-2016, 01:13
Ballistic nylon is thicker, not as slick, and more similar to 1000D Cordura nylon. We ran CoF tests on about 16 different fabrics, including the ballistic nylon from Rockywoods, and found that it was slicker than Cordura nylon, but not as much as ripstop.

I wrapped the bumpers in ripstop this year. We were replacing the front bumpers with regular cordura due to the nylon taking a beating at our pre scrimmage yesterday.
Mike Marandola
23-02-2016, 01:17
I wrapped the bumpers in ripstop this year. We were replacing the front bumpers with regular cordura due to the nylon taking a beating at our pre scrimmage yesterday.

What ripstop did you try?
Alex Cormier
23-02-2016, 01:19
What ripstop did you try?
http://www.joann.com/rip-stop-nylon/xprd560961.html#q=ripstop+nylon&start=1
Mike Marandola
23-02-2016, 01:24
http://www.joann.com/rip-stop-nylon/xprd560961.html#q=ripstop+nylon&start=1

We tested that one and it's a lot thinner than some other ripstops we have. I'll try to snap an up close picture of the Joann ripstop next to ballistic nylon at our meeting tomorrow for comparison.
Alex Cormier
23-02-2016, 01:29
We tested that one and it's a lot thinner than some other ripstops we have. I'll try to snap an up close picture of the Joann ripstop next to ballistic nylon at our meeting tomorrow for comparison.

Thanks, We had no issues on the sides or back bumpers. The front were hit a lot against wood yesterday.
Mike Marandola
23-02-2016, 15:41
http://imgur.com/a/uoZpL

From left to right: Joann ripstop - ballistic nylon - Cordura nylon
hectorcastillo
23-02-2016, 16:07
Chainmail
Bob Steele
23-02-2016, 16:09
We are going with the slick fabric from RoboPromo (http://www.robopromo.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RP-2002).

ditto
GeeTwo
23-02-2016, 17:15
Chainmail

:yikes: Even if you made a triangular robot, getting each corner's bumpers down to under 7# must have been a challenge. Did you source it from Stark Industries, make it yourself, or find another source?:p

Edit: Hmmm.. would chainmail on the robot be considered armor or barding?
Alex Cormier
23-02-2016, 17:21
http://imgur.com/a/uoZpL

From left to right: Joann ripstop - ballistic nylon - Cordura nylon

Which you like the most and what's the cost difference?
Mike Marandola
23-02-2016, 18:41
Which you like the most and what's the cost difference?

The ballistic nylon is about $15/yard and Cordura nylon is $12.50/yard. We are using neither but I would choose the ballistic over Cordura and the Joann ripstop.
AllenGregoryIV
24-03-2016, 13:13
We use cordura as well.

What have teams found to be the cheapest bumper material? We want to buy a lot of it to give out to teams with illegal bumpers at events.
Mike Marandola
24-03-2016, 13:28
We use cordura as well.

What have teams found to be the cheapest bumper material? We want to buy a lot of it to give out to teams with illegal bumpers at events.

The cheapest that's suitable for bumpers that I have seen is duck cloth or a similar canvas. You can find it online and locally for around $4 a yard.
SenorZ
10-04-2016, 16:07
After two regionals, our duck cloth bumpers are destroyed. Holes torn in them all over the place. Don't recall having those issues during Aerial Assist.

We'll be trying heavier fabric for champs.
engunneer
10-04-2016, 21:54
I've inspected teams that have had ... questionable ... bumper material. The second flimsiest I've seen is actual bedsheets. I'm not sure what the flimsiest ones were, but they'd tear if you looked at them wrong...

Also important is how the fabric is attached to the bumper. I saw a number of teams this year that had BOTH colors removable, and only velcroed onto the bumper wood.
alicen
10-04-2016, 22:23
I'm not on a team, so I didn't have to make bumpers this year, but I have a suggestion!

Next year can we have fiberoptic fabric bumpers?!
Alliance colors are set by FMS, numbers are black on the "white" fabric, maybe down the road cool things could be added for when penalties are called on robot X, or if robot Y is disabled, etc.

This idea came entirely out of trying to practice reffing on practice day when bumper color rarely corresponded with the alliance a team was "on" for each practice match :p