[fox46]

One of my teams is using a uniquely Canadian solution- Snowmobile fuel line! They build their robot in a snowmobile shop and discovered that the low temperature polyurethane fuel line has excellent frictional characteristics when interacting with balls. At first they tried joining it by trying to use a smaller tube shoved inside it in a sort of butt-joint. Then we discovered that you can heat it (gently) using a small butane torch to melt both ends simultaneously and then stick and hold them together until they fully cool (takes a good 15-20 mins).

We spliced one length and then tied either end to a car (we couldn't break it ourselves) and the weld was actually stronger than the tubing and it ended up failing along an untouched section.

If you'd like I can enquire as to if their sponsor can ship some out to you.