Quick release bumper design
 

This is like the 15th snowday for our school so I came up with a relatively simple bumper attachment design and thought I would share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phkYfAKK91A

Eagles - Team 2874

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

What is the bumper height

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

You can adjust how high the bumpers are by the position you mount the plywood to the attachable piece of metal. If you are wondering about the height for this years competition the bumpers must be between 1 and 7 inches off the floor. We have made ours to be 1.5 inches off the floor on the bottom and 6.5 inches off the floor on the top

As you probably know the bumpers are 5 inches high

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

If we ever have school again i will take my video camera and make a video of our bumper system so you have a better idea of how it works as a whole

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Wow, very nifty idea. If you machine it just right, maybe grease the contact points, I can see this being extremely quick and easy. It is more complex than a simple bolt or pin, but it might make a team's robot all that more snazzy. You should find some kind of handle/grasping point you can put on top of it for simple grabbing.

One thing I thought of: if your bumper has two latches/quick releases, you'll need three hands or a helper: two to pull and hold up the latches and one to pull out/place the bumper. Could you make the quick releases latch up so that you don't have to hold them there? How about sawing a notch in the middle bolt, which you can hook on to a lip from that metal tubing.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Once you have the two side bolts clear of the holes, it looks like you could just twist it so they don't go back in and relatch it.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

BMX,
Looks nice. Could you give us a report once you have them in place on a driving robot and let us know how they fair in hits with the walls and other robots? I am interested to know if they will accidentally release the bumpers.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

And that's a RED CARD this year!
(BUMPER rules are found in Section 4)

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

We have finished building the quick release mechanisms. We have a total of 8 on our robot 2 per side. They work amazing, we are in the process of making a cable that will allow one person to pull up on and then just slide the bumpers in.

If you space the 2 quick release brackets the same distance from the front and the back of the robot the right and left sides will be interchangeable same with the front and the back.

We made the spring to be adjustable so they are plenty strong enough. We dont plan on them coming off but I will keep you all posted.

Today I will post an updated video of all 8 on the robot and how we intend for them to work.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

2 per side might violate the "support every 8" rule"

How are you supporting the robot to meet this rule.
It is a very nifty idea...

Remember also that your fastener can't extend out beyond the wood...

I hope you make this works
Our team has used rivets to fasten our bumpers for awhile now... pretty quick and very sure

good luck!

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Where do you go to school? I want to go there!

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

I assume I'm misunderstanding this. It sounds like you're riveting your bumpers to your robot...and that can't be right. Among other things, it would take forever to remove them for inspection. Please help me understand what you're describing.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

On the contrary - removing riveted bumpers wouldn't take that much time at all. All you have to do is drill them out.

I'm assuming aluminium rivets here - a bit easier to drill out than a steel rivet.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

The 8-inch support rule says that you cannot have any missing sections of frame greater than 8". It doesn't say your bumper has to be connected every 8".

Most teams using traditional bolts and wingnuts use 2 or 3 connectors per side.