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1999 KSC Regional Status Report #1
Posted by Mike S of team #21, Boeing NASA-KSC "ComBBAT", from Titusville HS, Astronaut HS sponsored by Boeing.
Posted on 3/4/99 4:41 PM MST Under a beautiful bright sunny day with temperatures in the low 70's practice day is complete. There are 27 teams competing and the competition looks strong. However a number of teams (approximately 7) were not running or barely running by the close of practice. We only saw a small number of teams, approximately 5 or so actually climb on the puck. However the upper end of the competition looks strong. Two Baxter teams are here, the Bomb Squad and a team from Puerto Rico. Of course the Baxter machine was hands down the most reliable with very little work going on the pits. The BSM machine (who heroically came by bus all the way from Wisconsin) also looks very strong. They climb the puck easily with a rotating belt mechanism. They have a very sturdy, ladder like telescoping boom that works well. As for us, the ComBBAT machine, "Tippy" performed well most of the day with a few bumps and bruises. Only a few teams can reliably do it all: climb on or hang from the puck, raise floppies, and pickup floppies. The ComBBAT machine along with both Baxter teams, BSM and the Pratt & Whittney SPAM machine exhibited all these functions. Note there may have been a few more that I may have missed. The NASA Space Coast Team was not ready until late in the day but is very quick with a 4-wheel drive system articulated for climbing on both ends! A few notes for pit crews. If you blow a transorb (and they fail both open and closed) you will blow the 60 amp fuse and nothing else if you've wired by the book. This could cause a short and blow out all the transorbs. Lesson: bring transorbs and if a 60 amp fuse blows check them all! If you are using van door motors as a drive system (1 team was) they get hot. Give them air and don't over practice. Well that's it from the backyard of America's Launch Pad! More tomorrow, hopefully scores if they are posted. Mike S. Boeing NASA KSC "ComBBAT" Team 21 |
Motors and Heat
Posted by Mike King, Other on team #88, TJē, from Bridgewater Raynham and Johnson & Johnson Professional.
Posted on 3/4/99 7:50 PM MST In Reply to: 1999 KSC Regional Status Report #1 posted by Mike S on 3/4/99 4:41 PM MST: :Lesson: If you : are using van door motors as a drive system (1 team was) : they get hot. Give them air and don't over practice. DateLine 1996. Our team (TJē) was using the seat motors for it's drive system. Yes i'm completely serious, we used them to drive our wheels. You think that's bad, ask Moe or Terry about the "speed controller" we made. But anyway, those seat motors get really hot when you strain them like that, and we found that by putting an Icepack (Johnson&Johnson brand of course) over the motors a few minutes before the match would allow them to run it bit longer before the heat sensor tripped. Another thing we found, but didn't use cause we couldn't find a can of it, was compressed refrigant. We saw a few teams spraying it onto the motors, and Volia, instant frostie. Don't know the name of it, but I saw some at Radio Shack the other day. Good luck Mike Ps. Someone mentioned that this year was a sea of sissor lifts. We had a Sissor lift way back in 1996. There are some much better pictures on our website. None of 1999 yet |
Re: Motors and Heat
Posted by Neel Parikh, Student on team #188, Woburn Robotics, from Woburn Collegiate.
Posted on 3/5/99 10:09 AM MST In Reply to: Motors and Heat posted by Mike King on 3/4/99 7:50 PM MST: : : But anyway, those seat motors get really hot when you strain them :like that, and we found that by putting an Icepack (Johnson&Johnson :brand of course) over the motors a few minutes before the match would :allow them to run it bit longer before the heat sensor tripped. :Another thing we found, but didn't use cause we couldn't find a :can of it, was compressed refrigant. We saw a few teams spraying :it onto the motors, and Volia, instant frostie. : :Don't know the name of it, but I saw some at Radio Shack the other day. Last year we used "Freeze-it" on our drill motors. It seemed to work well but we could never find that can when we needed it. It should be available at almost any electronics store. It's used to cool IC's, etc . . as far as i know. Hope that helps. Neel Woburn Robotics, Scarborough, Ontario Team #188 |
Newark Electronics Sells that cool in a can
Posted by Joe Johnson, Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.
Posted on 3/5/99 7:09 PM MST In Reply to: Re: Motors and Heat posted by Neel Parikh on 3/5/99 10:09 AM MST: We bought a case of the curcuit board cleaner (neat little method to remove that dust) from Newark last year. It is not cheap as I recall (about $10 a can seems to ring a bell). There are other sources as well. If there is an interest, I can find the Newark Part Number. (I couldn't find it using Newark's search engine but you may have better luck) Joe J. |
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