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Unread 29-03-2012, 21:29
Unsung FIRST Hero Woodie Flowers Award
Chris Fultz Chris Fultz is offline
My Other Car is a 500 HP Turbine
FRC #0234 (Cyber Blue)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Rookie Year: 1942
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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Re: Educate me on Trailers

Ours is 6 x 10 or 12 - not posotive. Single Axle. Twin doors on the rear and a side panel door. Very similar to the attached photo.

Exterior - We have a large "234" logo on each side. We have our major sponsors on each side. On the rear, we have a smaller "234" and 6 of our major sponsors. We had these done by TKO Graphics and they have held up well for about 6+ years. TKO does trucks, cars, commercial graphics, etc.

Interior - We added one high shelf along the wall without the side door. It is good for extra bar stock, flags, etc. It goes most of the length of the trailer and is about 10" wide. We added another short shelf above the side door and it is large enough for the control board.

We added several "D" clamps to the floor and walls so we could secure the load. There are "studs" running vertically and braces horizontally so we found several good places to add these. We also added several in the floor.

We made a ramp for ours from Aluminnum Plate. It is about 5' long and has pins to hold it in place. We have a cross bar that goes across the back of the trailer and we strap the ramp to it when we are traveling.

Our "normal load" - robot (in front), 2 - 18" W x 42" rolling tool carts (one each side), our robot cart, battery cart, smaller tool boxes and other items in totes. It holds everything we need for a competition.

Some considerations -
Who will tow it. Ours can be pulled by a smaller SUV or truck.
Who will insure it. Ours we "gave" to the school so it has township plates and is insured under the schools policy.
Who can use it. We only allow ours to be used for robotics trips, not personal use.

A larger trailer can give you some more space, but also restricts who can pull it. A trailer with brakes (electric or surge) requires the right wiring on the tow vehcle, and a larger truck to pull it.

Be sure to get a spare tire, lug wrench and jack to keep with the trailer (we installed a spare tire mount on the tongue).

We love having ours and have pulled it all over to competitions, demonstrations and other events. With the logos on it, it is a rolling billboard for our team and for FIRST.

I will get some photos and add them.
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Chris Fultz
Cyber Blue - Team 234
2016 IRI Planning Committee
2016 IndyRAGE Planning Committee
2010 - Woodie Flowers Award - Championship

Last edited by Chris Fultz : 29-03-2012 at 21:32.
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