Quote:
Originally Posted by Oblarg
I'm absolutely certain that plastic tanks can be used in a manner which is entirely safe. But this is a high-school competition, not a professional engineering work environment, and I have serious reservations about hardware with such a dangerous failure mode in this context.
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And it's not just a matter of over-tightening the fittings, though this does seem to be a common root cause of the starter flaw. There are plenty of other ways on a FIRST field to cause trauma to the tanks. As I mentioned, some of them are even completely legal (though not preferable). I've even seen people pass inspection with plastic tanks on their appendages. Just because it reportedly hasn't happened yet doesn't mean we should be ignoring other potential sources of damage.