Re: Rules: Velcroing Electronics
 

1618 has used Velcro in copious amounts during my time with them. A tip: standardize which side goes on which part. You don't want to be scrambling to attach a replacement Victor that won't stay put because you mixed your hooks and loops up when you installed it the first time.

Re: Rules: Velcroing Electronics
 

Today we built up a panel with all the electronics velcroed onto PVC sintra.

I think our final solution will be the cRio velcroed down with an auxilary brace bolted onto the cRio for those high-G turns and stops.

Re: Rules: Velcroing Electronics
 

I have seen a Spike that was attached with Velcro to the inside top of the electronics box come loose in a good impact. Of course, it landed on something bad, resulting in a fair amount of magic smoke and a giant bundle of wires that were melted into one chunk.

Use care if you are going to mount things with Velcro. If bad things can happen if it comes off, you should at least put a wire tie around it before competing.

Re: Rules: Velcroing Electronics
 

Our team has used a LOT of velcro (too much!) and it seems to work alright for components that are not critical like spikes or sometimes victors. I don't think that velcro on the cRio is a good idea just because of the weight but for the power distribution panel, it should work provided you use the 2" wide stuff and not that small narrow velcro.

Re: Rules: Velcroing Electronics
 

I don't think we'll ever use Velcro again. In '06 and '07 we used velcro, and replacement was just a hassle sometimes since the velcro backing doesn't always like to separate from the velcro...and as previously suggested alot of times our velcro sides didn't match up.

In 2008, we used #8 and #10 nylon screws. With nylon screws you can drill a hole, hot glue the nut in place on one side, and effectively have the equivalent of a tapped hole. For 2009, we'll probably use rubber-backed washers with steel nuts & bolts for the cRio, and varying sizes of phillips-head nylon bolts for the rest. All will be mounted on honeycomb fiberglass that will have a nice glossy finish put on it in the end.

For the cRIO & PDB, think about the risk vs reward. You'll save a few ounces at the risk of an imperfect <adhesive> connection coming loose. Should the risk come to fruition, the consequence is that you may have to replace a several thousand dollar part that you're supposed to also use in future years' FRC competitions...not just 2009. Is it really worth the risk?

Re: Rules: Velcroing Electronics
 

Velcro is nice, and fast. But the first, and I mean the VERY first time you have a major failure because the velcro came loose at the worst possible time, you will never use it again.

We use the nylon fasteners. It is a postive connection as opposed to the cross-your fingers with velcro. It's as fast as velcro to install the first time. We also use a product called gatorboard as our electronics board. It's foam sandwiched between two layers of heavy paper. You can poke holes in it with a screwdriver or allen wrench, and it is non-conductive and very very light.

If we didn't get it for free (yes we include it on the materials list), I'd move us to 1/4 cheeseholed lexan because it's non-conductive.

Despite out best efforts during the last invitational match we played in 2007, our chassis was carrying an intermittent 5 volt charge. We never were able to pin down where the leakage was occuring, but since then we'll never use a conductive backplane again.

Re: Rules: Velcroing Electronics
 

Before using too much Velcro around sensitive electronics, you might want to do some investigations into how much static electricity builds up in it each time you pull the Velcro apart.

Last year we used Velcro to hold our gyro in place and I we always had unpredictable results with that gyro. It may not have been the Velcro, but I became suspicious after a while. I did find some info online that warn people flying model rockets to not Velcro in their altimeters and other instruments.

Re: Rules: Velcroing Electronics
 

I just started using velcro on our electronics this year with the practice robot, i would really like to use it on the competition robot too.
It says in R<59> that we can use "Appropriate Fasteners" but i don't know if that includes velcro or not. If anyone finds out officially, PLEASE POST !!!

Thanks;)

Re: Rules: Velcroing Electronics
 

We're using velcro to hold the CRIO but it is reinforced with several zip ties as well.