pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

Maybe these should be a part of next years KOP.

Look for them in the new Andymark inventory guide... :)

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

What is that belting your using for the main ball pick up? Its actually pretty amazing how similar our conveyor systems are. I will have to take a closer look at IRI.

Love the fix.

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

The belt we use is just regular store conveyor belt; it was donated to us by Rite Aid. We were also surprised by the similarities of our robots and were happy to see your success early on in the season. We really wanted to meet you guys in Atlanta, but with such a busy schedule we weren't able to pull away. I'll be looking forward to meeting your team at IRI. See ya there!

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

As for "actual" upgrades to our robot, we are tightening up our autonomous code and fixing the sensors.

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

Is that lexan (Polycarb)? If so, care to share the details on how you went about making that fix, BandAid aside of course. (some sort of stitching)?

I ask because we have a robot from a few years ago that we'd like to use as a demobot but there are several lexan parts on it that are deteriorating from wear and it would be really nice to be able to patch it like this as opposed to replace the whole thing. :)

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

If there is a crack in the polycarb you can drill the end of the crack so to relieve the stress and prevent the crack from spreading. Look closely, that's what they did. I'm sure the stitching isn't having a lot of effect there.

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

The hole will certainly stop the crack from propagating. I'm guessing the stitching is there to keep balls from getting stuck near the crack. Of course, the band-aid is there to draw attention to the "ouch"!

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

Hmm, good information about drilling a hole on the end of the crack, I have never heard about that one.

What thickness polycarb is that by the way?

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

Can't say for sure but it looks like 1/16th based on how flexible it is and how it cracked.

That "drill a hole fix" saved shielding on my team's robot a good 4 or 5 times this season. Never heard of stitching though (not like I'm an expert)... to make the run smoother I'd just stick some tape over the crack to prevent anything from getting caught.

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

The polycarb is less than a quarter inch thick. As for the crack, we had received a pretty hard blow to the back of our robot which cracked the polycarb from the drill point to the edge. The stitching is their in part to hold the polycarb ends together (reinforcement), but essentially the drilled holes are relieving the stress of the crack itself as commented above.

Re: pic: Tinman 399 IRI upgrade?
 

well the sensors have a habit of breaking themselves :D