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Unread 19-03-2014, 00:17
philso philso is offline
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Re: Al's Annual Inspection Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz View Post
philso,
I obviously cannot make an interpretation based on a description, that would be for your inspector to decide and of course for the Q&A to answer if it is something that hasn't been seen in the past. In general, bumpers using an angle to secure the corners has been allowed in the past. This is provided all other bumper rules are in compliance (the 1/4" gap rule and support in the corners for instance). As always, bumper construction is examined for weight, specifically for the maximum, and for any weight that should be correctly attributed to the robot weight.
Please remember that even if you have reversible bumper covers, the removal by one person in fifteen minute guideline still applies. We don't want you to miss a match because we need to accurately weigh your robot for some reason, only to find out it takes 30 minutes to get the bumpers off. I have seen one robot this season already that riveted their bumper system on to the robot frame thinking they would never have to remove them. That became very evident when the bumper fabric got ripped off in their second practice match.
Thanks for your feedback, Al.

At this time, I have no photos to show since I am trying to do my homework in case it is decided to replace our current bumpers with ones that will hold up to the abuse better. We would not want to put the time and effort into building something that has no hope of passing inspection. I would like to use corner brackets that extend at least 6" from the corners to resist the twisting we are getting because the contact with the frame is made in the lower 1 1/2" of the bumper. We will be using our current scheme to install and remove the bumpers. It takes about 2 minutes to swap between the two.

My main concern is that the corner brackets I am proposing would essentially cover the whole inside vertical surface of the bumpers, extending from the bottom to the top (5" high) and all the way around. The bumpers would end up consisting of an 1/8' thick layer of aluminum on the inside, 3/4" plywood, then the pool noodles on the outside. There would not be any gap between the aluminum and the plywood. The cloth covering would be trapped between the aluminum and the plywood. It would be the 1/8" aluminum plate that would contact the frame instead of the plywood. Does this sound like something that would be accepted at inspection?

Thanks.

Phil
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