Quote:
Originally Posted by Loose Screw
Being a coach of an FTC team, I've had experiance with kids using both options. In our lift system, we tried using nuts and bolts. We were going to loctite all of them, but we never got the chance, and after we added more to it, it was extremely difficult to get to them to tighten them.
We decided to use pop rivets the next year so they wouldn't loosen and unscrew after competitions. However, not all of them were pressed together tightly while they were used, so as a result they were loose and eventually broke. Our problem became much bigger now that we had to redo most of our pop rivets.
As a coach I feel irritated when all of their hard work just falls apart like that, and I see how frustrated they get too. That's why I've decided that we're going to use red loctite on anything that seems like it might come undone. However, we can't access every little nook and cranny, so we'll have to use pop rivits for areas like that.
My advice: Loctite nuts and bolts for easy-access areas, and then pop rivets for areas that you can't reach one side. Just make sure they press together everything tightly for the pop rivets.
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Just say no to red loctite, if you have to remove it you'll likely end up breaking, bending or stripping your Allen wrench and/or bolt. Red is supposed to be heated to be able to be removed. Blue is what I recommend for FRC use, it can be removed and usually does not cause the breakage/stripping that red does. Another option is the penetrating loctite, it is designed to be applied after the fasteners have been assembled. The one we typically keep in stock is the green version.
Nylock nuts or bolts are another good option.