Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

We're talking about organizing our area this season and was wondering what kinds of materials you normally buy/have and how much it'd cost. E.G., Banner for your team/sponsors, PVC frames, robot carts that transform into an all-in-one workstation, etc. I'd just like to get an idea and maybe an estimate of what our team can get for what. Also, where you bought it and pictures or videos would help a lot!

Thanks in advanced,
David Thomas

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

You'd be surprised how much you can do with a toolbox, some old KOP bins, and a cart that has a capability to carry tools under it. Oh, yeah, power strips are good too, especially if you have multiple battery chargers. Throw in some cheap plastic shelving to help organize, and there you go. (OK, so it doesn't look all that good, but it works. Just keep everything reasonably out of the way.)

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

lol, That's a nice barebones way of doing it, and basically our setup last season sans shelving. We're actually budgeting a few bucks to do it this year, so we were looking for a couple of nice things to buy. Just had a Craftsman cart donated, so tools are squared away. Cosmetic items are welcome too.

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

Buy big ticket items that you know you'll need early so your team has time to get used to them.

After that, you might consider waiting until after ship date to focus on storage and cosmetic stuff. Since your home regional (Buckeye) is in Week 4, you might want to consider scouting one or two events in earlier weeks. Seeing the better organized pits at those events might give you some good ideas.

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

To add to Richard's suggestion - one of the things I've discovered at the events I've attended is how much teams love to talk about their pits. They love to show you what they've done to improve their area from the year before. They love to show you what they are working on that will be finished 'next' year. They love to talk about the organization of their tools, the accessibility of their batteries, special things they've done to the carts to make them efficient and productive. At many of the regionals, it is cold weather and teams have to manage their coats. It's fun to see what they've come up with in areas like that as well. Pits rock.

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

"Pits rock" lol, Nice summary. That's actually a very great idea, Richard. [btw, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!] I should have a car pretty soon, and I'll probably go crazy trying to find something to do to fill in the time after shipping. I'll check the regional schedules now and call off work...

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

not to but in but how do teams manage their coats at regionals? team 885 always just threw them under the table or left them with another member in the stands. (made for finding stuff under the table hard).

thanks.
Forest

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

For the most part, the best way to manage the coat situation is leaving them in the stabds with a few adults. A coat in the stands gives that much more room to move around in the pit.

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

On 25, we have a coat rack in our pits to help organize our pits. It has worked out really well for us the past two years.

Also, we use some simple plastic shelving to store everything on, in addition to a wooden work table. To display our sponsor's name, we have a little nameplate that attaches to the front of the table. As for banners and other decorations, we try to throw some of those up if we're up against a wall/bleachers/etc, but we don't really make that a priority.

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

If you will look at this picture http://www.kellrobotics.org/images/s...e/DSC_0026.JPG

you will see a rolling wire cart. It has front doors that fold down the sides when in use. The red tool box on the right is 2.5 feet wide. On the left side we have about 2.5 feet of open space that has a trash can.

We have added a retractable bar that extends 2.5 feet to the left that is the coat hanger bar.

This cart is 5 feet wide and 24 inches deep, and about 60 inches high. Make sure that you can transport it in your trailer. Most economy trailers do not have a door height large enough to accomodate it.

At the bottom of this page is our cart : http://www.globalindustrial.com/catalog/GQpg150.pdf

A lower cost version with out front doors is here on the bottom right: http://www.globalindustrial.com/catalog/GQpg151.pdf

We will maintain this setup in our shop and then just roll it to the site. Everyone knows where everything is.
Roll it in. Roll it out.
And you can secure it.

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

Here's team 696's pit in 2006. The materials to support and comprise the large banner in the back cost about $100, and the shelving towers cost about $40-$50 each from Home Depot. The banner has a PVC support structure that can stand without the shelves. Also, we used PVC pipes to tie together the tops of the shelves so they couldn't topple over if someone bumped into them.

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

Here is team 45's pit from 2006.

This thing folds up into a rolling structure that is about 4 ft. wide x 10 ft. long x 5 ft. tall. It takes about 5 minutes to set up. We bring it to the events with our trailer, along with a large tool box and totes.

When set up, it is just under 10 feet tall.

The material we used to create this is Creform, which are thin-walled steel pipes with plastic coating. Creform has fastening hardware, tubes, and accessories available to do much more than what we have done.

One regret in making this canopy is that it is too wide when folded up. It really needed to be within 32 inches wide so it can fit through a door.

Looking at McMaster-Carr, I see that they classify this stuff as "Steel Clamp-On Structural Framing System".

If you are designing something similar to this, plan for it to be no bigger than 9.5 feet x 9.5 feet x 9.5 feet.

Andy B.

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

Creform is interesting stuff, Andy. It's technical specs for the standard 28mm pipe indicate 0.7mm (about 1/32") steel wall thickness and 520 g/m (about 0.35 lb/ft) weight. That should provide more than adequate strength. About how much does your pit structure weigh?

I'm guessing (after a quick review of the Creform site and of the McMaster-Carr page you cited) that your team didn't buy the material from McMaster. I base this on the standard pipe lengths that Creform lists, which are 2.5m, 3.0m, and 4.0m. The 3.0m length (~9'10") is just about right for the FRC pit height limit, while the standard McMaster-Carr pipe length is 8' -- a little short if you want to get your signage near the FRC height limit and provide headroom inside your pit.

Did you find a local source for Creform in metric lengths?

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

Our whole structure weighs about 40-50 lbs.

The Kokomo Delphi plant has an internal Creform shop with the purpose of making simple structures for assembly lines. There is a UAW skilled tradesman making Creform stuff full-time. We asked him 4-5 years ago to make a pit structure, and this is what he came up with. It was a donation from Delphi that the team still uses.

We hang stuff from the top, like spare parts and materials, along with the team signs. In 2006, at the Championships, we added a strut to one corner and a simple stand in order to hang our New Year's Eve Ball from one corner. It attracted alot of attention.

Andy B.

Re: Coverings/Banners/Shelves [Team Pit Layouts]
 

One thing that I see more and more teams doing is using their crate as part of their pit. We tried this last year and it worked out really well. We are redesigning it this year a bit, to fix some problems from last year. If you do this, you'll obviously have to invest more design time into your crate, and you'll want to make sure you use good materials so it will last you a while. Also, from personal experience, you'll probably want to make all the shelving removable and bring that with you separately, as it adds a significant amount of weight to your crate and could end up costing you money if you are overweight.

Last year's crate (see attached picture):
--3 shelves for storage
--1 fold out work table, with room underneath for tool chest
This year's crate:
--male 120V plug to plug into arena power
--2 outlet boxes to plug in chargers, tools, etc
--one fold out table (moved to left side, over the fixed crate base)
--one coat rack underneath fold out table
--3 shelves (one on right above table, 2 on left with room underneath for rolling tool chest)

Teams 237 and 610 both had really cool crate workstations last year, check them out if you can.