Need help with bumpers
 

Team 457 is looking for new ways to mount bumpers to our robot if u have any ideas or pics that u r willing to share with us we would galdly appericate it.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

How did you do it before?

Team 330 put their bolts in the bumpers last year, IIRC. We just drilled holes in the frame and put the bolts through the holes, then tightened nuts onto them. We'd had a few minor issues in 2006 with blindnuts coming out by pushing.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

we bolted them to angle pieces that were welded to our frame but we had problems. so do u have any other ideas to make it easier

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

What sort of problems? Nuts falling out, bolts not long enough, accesibility?

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

Try a strip of metal, covered with 1/2 inch foam, and wrapped in duct tape. Bolted it onto the frame, voila. Took all of 5 minutes during the final build day. I don't recommend it, but we waited too late.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

Accessibility has always been an issue for us. This season, we're going to have a new setup. Imagine the meshing section of a hinge, but all square. Put several of these along the bumper, so bolts can drop in from the top. If this isn't that clear, I'll throw a CAD up in a few minutes...

Edit: Image 1 shows the two separate.The bottom section of the plate is threaded. When put together (image 2) the bolt can be dropped into the hole, and threaded in. This should allow us to change out from red to blue bumpers quite easily based on which alliance we're on.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

Not a spec bumper, unless the 1/2 inch foam was pool noodles. I think he's asking about spec bumpers.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

Would that be considered spec? Or do bumper fasteners count towards weight.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

Ah, ok. Anyway, do you have any good generic designs? I'm trying to make sure we have a much better bot than last season. Craig, I like that design a lot.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

Bolt and blindnut (or ordinary nut, depending which way you want to go) through a hole in the frame. Use on spec bumpers.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

The bumper mounts on the frame side would be counted in the robot weight. But the piece on the bumper side, as long as it's under 15 pounds for the whole setup, is fine.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

Gotchya. Thanks.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

We had a similar setup on our 2006 bot. Pull 4 pins and they popped right off. It worked very well. We did have to remove the brackets from the bumpers and weigh them with the robot, also the pins.

Last year the bumpers were all hinged together. We had brackets along the back that simply went over the frame. The brackets in front were held on by pins. Remove two pins and the whole thing came off. Just like 2006 we also had to remove the brackets and weigh them with the robot.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

We had tiny flanges on our bumpers last year that locked into our 80/20 frame rails. Each bumper was attached with only ONE bolt. Never had a problem taking them on or off.

A crude picture is attached. You can see the three flanges on the left bumper.

Re: Need help with bumpers
 

One thought on bumpers and thier mounting. The plywood and aluminum frame can be a stuctural part of the robot. The mounting can be very critical if a team wants to integrat the bumps into the frame as a structural member.