Re: Over weight robot
 

Did you release your compressed air before weighing? That can also make a noticeable difference.

Re: Over weight robot
 

drill anything not structural and if that doesn't help any drill more holes between those holes also look for anything not entirely necessarily and see if can removed

so in short drill holes drill holes and drill more holes

Re: Over weight robot
 

Depending on when your regional is, you have time to order lighter ones now that you can drop in during practice day of your event. You also have the withholding allowance....

Re: Over weight robot
 

This is a bit of out an out there idea but you can replace the AM kit frame corner brackets with 1/8 plate gussets. EX: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/38516 And use rivets instead of bolts.

Edit: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/38390 cad files are in this.

Re: Over weight robot
 

I know you guys are short on weight, but are your accumulators plastic?

If they are, check this out...

It may be a good idea to keep the plastic accumulators, but please see the risk involved with it.

Re: Over weight robot
 

Calculate the mass of the holes before you drill any. Use the volume of a cylindrical hole times the density of the material you're thinking of drilling. This should only take a few minutes to estimate.

Additionally, some cost-benefit analysis of your mechanisms and drilled holes is in order. Are you better of by sacrificing a mechanism and just getting the robot finished, or by taking the next day or so to drill holes in things?

And this goes without saying: everyone participating in your decision must understand the weight limits in the rules.

Re: Over weight robot
 

Oh also, make sure your scale isn't to blame. Get a student that knows her/his weight to stand on it to check or object. You never know!

Re: Over weight robot
 

Additionally, make sure you are using a scale that goes up in small increments.

Re: Over weight robot
 

Enough air for what? If you have 2 plastic tanks and one cylinder like in the photo, probably yes, for one time. If you have 2 cylinders and others, then maybe not. TRY IT AND SEE.

Re: Over weight robot
 

We were very overweight, so we took off our shooter! :ahh: It wasn't working that well, and we were easily able to turn our disc lifter into a level 1 dumper, which may even score more points than the level 3 shooter, and we still have our climber.

Re: Over weight robot
 

Holes Help. We lost 3 lbs last night. Do you have Aluminum gears in your gear boxes? That can be .4-.8 lbs depending on gear boxes.Do you have the small compressor? Do you need to motors on your shooter? How many drive sims? If 4 do you really need 4? Are you sure about your scale? Are you picking up off the floor? Do you have to? Seems like we have a fat robot every year usually don't name him until he is under. 119.9 is all it takes. Good luck.

Re: Over weight robot
 

Try replacing a compressor with a mini compressor, use a smaller c-Rio (we normally use the 4-block one), attach electronics to polycarbonate and Velcro them on.

Re: Over weight robot
 

I disagree; 10 pounds worth of holes is very drastic. We've never been able to lose more than 2 lbs just by swiss-cheesing. Since some of the materials in the pictures look like they are overly heavy, maybe the holes could add up to 4 or 5 pounds.

I would look for structural parts that don't need to be so heavy-duty. Such as C-channel or 80-20 that could be replaced with angle bar, or solid 1/4" plastic or plywood that could be thinner or corrugated.

Re: Over weight robot
 

Remake your shooter with lighter materials. Last year we were 20 pounds over we drilled 1023 holes and only lost 8 pounds. The bulk of our weight loss came from switching to lighter ,materials. I recommend you do the same

Re: Over weight robot
 

10 pounds is a lot to lose, but you can do it. Remember that you don't need to lose it all at once, small cuts add up!

First, think of how much you actually need to run your pneumatics, we have used precharged in the past and as long as you don't have a leak it works well. I would recommend taking off the compressor before removing airtanks, it is heavier and less necessary. If you are using a full sized compressor, you could start by switching to the mini one, that will save you about 2 pounds. If you have the mini one and you take it off that will be about the same.

Swiss cheese is good. Find places that you can drill holes or enlarge ones that are not critical or in use. This won't do a ton, but you could probably get 3-4 pounds out of it if you really stretch it. I would say that 3 is a reasonable goal.

Look at all of your bolts. Find which ones are extraneous and take them out. Like the post above said, you probably don't need 3 1/4-20's to hold up the 1/2 pound airtank. 2 would probably be sufficient, even 1. Heck, you could probably get by with zipties for it. That's what we are using. Find all the bolts that extend far past the nuts holding them on. switch them to the smallest possible size that you can use while still going through the nut. This could add up to about 2 pounds depending on how much you guys take out.

Find material that you don't need and remove it. This is basically just drilling holes but bigger. if you have a full plate that a frisbee will slide on, you really only need the ends, take out the middle. When possible, try using 1/16" metal instead of 1/8". It's tough to tell from the picture but this might be able to get another 2 pounds for you guys.

You probably won't want to do this, but you could also find electrical wires that are too long and shorten them to just what you need. This will cut down a pound or two and eliminate any rat's nest you might have.

As a last resort, fill your air tanks with helium before weigh in ;)

Good luck!!!