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Yea, we have Lexan in the grooves of the Extrusion. 2 pieces fit perfectly in the groove. There is an Unbelievable amount of storage in there. We have a vacuum in the back cabinet, compressor, battery station on the top of the left cabinet, all around white boards, and a small section of Cork board, Trophy case on the right front cabinet (also used to display Business plan, Design book, and video on the screen), we even have coat hooks for coats (when in Canada ;) ) and for our Drive Team helmets.

The floor provides (as already stated) a nice way to kneel and is a little easier on your feet. Bu what we actually use to floor for, is as a safety precaution. The metal chips from deburring, drilling, filing, or what ever, will fall down in to the cutouts we have on our flooring. It also gives you grip so you wont fall if something spills in your pit, the liquid will go threw the circles and the rubber will give you more grip. lastly, if our programmers want, we can put the Ethernet cord under the mat, making no tripping hazards n our pits.

Re: pic: Design Challenge: Pits
 

Building on Tristan's post, the single greatest improvement, from a safety standpoint, is having sufficient lighting to work with tools in your pit. When you cover the pit, it makes it difficult for your team to work. While I have seen teams mount lighting on the structure, I must remind everyone, that there is ultimately the chance for a shock hazard. I have seen some teams that were asked to remove lighting by UL Safety people as being unsafe. While on the subject, many of these coverings do not provide sufficient headroom. Teams that have used fold-up tents have used everything from soup cans to custom built extensions to get them high enough to clear inspector's heads and the robot on a work surface.
Of all the team pit designs, perhaps the one I like best belong to Apple Corps and Truck Town. They have lot's of storage, seem to be easy to move and have an open top.

Re: pic: Design Challenge: Pits
 

Click each image for a larger version.

Our crew chief called it the best looking pit at championship.

Re: pic: Design Challenge: Pits
 

Keep in mind that there is a 10 foot ceiling :rolleyes: If you don't make use of it then it's your own fault. Besides, referring to earlier, I said our roof and walls are light plastic fabric and easy to remove. The lights are a nice option if we do choose to use them.

What else is going to break and fall on your head?

Max, what is the wall made of? At first I thought it was netting but it almost looks like plastic.

Re: pic: Design Challenge: Pits
 

Just a question, but what makes the chance of shock from lights so possible and different from the tools and batteries?

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I have seen teams manufacture lighting solutions from parts obtained from big box stores. They then manufacture power distro to provide power to all of the lights and then use a custom method of mounting these lights to the metal parts of the structure without any known good protective ground. This allows the metal framework, under certain conditions, to become elevated above ground. In and of itself, a danger but may not be fatal. However when someone contacts a grounded system in the adjacent pit while contacting (i.e. holding on to) the structure you suddenly have a serious possibility of loss of life, spark hazard and fire. I have seen things that curl my hair, what's left of it.

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Ok, thanks for clearing that up! ::safety::

Basically, don't be stupid. It certainly helps having an electrician on your team :) Seriously though, having an electrician look over your pit for potential problems (no matter how simple) is a good idea and could prevent any serious injury.

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In all honesty, stay away from over head structures (including the tents). To me atleast, they are just a hastle, and dont give you any advantage. They make you lose light (you can put lighting in but see above), any Fumes will stay inside the tent, and are just another thing you have to watch doesnt fall on your heads.

In regards to Electrical, all we have is a few power bars that we velcro to the "Railing" on the perimeter of the cabinets. This is pretty much all you need. and is safer than making "custom" circuits.

I can expand on some of this later, just dont have the time right now.

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(See the original picture, specifically the roof)

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It almost looks like cooling rack material to me.

I really love the fan idea, pits get so hot during Qualies and it adds un-needed stress to an already stressful situation. I'd watch out with the fans though, it might attract some of the unsavory 470 expats :P

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If anyone has been to the LA regional, I'm on the team with the giant castle every year =). I don't have a pic with me, so I will describe it: This year we had more of an inudstrial look, we had two 10 foot tall square speedrail towers at the front of the pit and two high connecting beams between the towers to create an entrance way. Speedrails from the top and bottom of each tower extended down to the back corners of the pit, where they met, and a back rail was mounted in between them. The structure was completely stable, a bit tough to transport but rather simple to assemble. Two vertical LCD screens were mounted on the fronts of the towers that played our team's promo in split-screen, and a smaller monitor on top had our team logo. On the inside, the area in the center was cleared as a robot work area, while tables, a work bench, shelves, and tool chests occupied the sides. Also, an interior monitor displayed our match schedule for the day. In terms of organization, all drawers and boxes were labeled, and our crew knew where more or less everything was, which made repairs & helping other teams easy.

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We've been using a foam flooring since 2009 that was relatively low cost (<$100 I believe).

The students, and especially the older mentors, love not standing directly on the cement.

In industry you will commonly see floor material in front of machines where operators are expected to stand all day.

It's a nice luxury to have.

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Oh, cement. I guess I'm used to that at work, but the floors at our events (lots of school gyms, I guess) seem...squishier. Even so, I'll poll my pit guys for any problems. It's usually the pit-to-field walk that gets me and the drivers; never really noticed the kneeling or standing.

We've never had even minor issues (at least in my pit management tenure) with traction or metal scraps, but--knock on wood--I'll definitely look at it now. Thanks everyone.


I traditionally advocate against full ceilings for the reasons otherwise stated. If you want a fan(s), feel free to mount it angled on the upper section of your wall/pole/shelves/whathaveyou. Plus, then you can make it rotate into the aisle!
Note that teams who do this automatically grow in popularity x7; where 7 is an arbitrarily invented value representing the fact that scouts really like cooling fans.

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Oh Hai there Joel :P

Yeah, I figured a design that incorporated a decent fan would be a cool idea :cool:

What do you think of the lights?

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Question. Was your design in revit.