[Drew4564]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Just curious - how many of you are actually using the tape measure as the device supporting the weight of your robot, versus using it just as a hook deployer? My gut says the latter is better.

My team uses the tape measures to support the weight of the robot. While we had an issue with this at the WPI event (a chain of events led to one tape measure twisting and snapping), it has worked just fine. I like using the tape measures as the lifting mechanism because it packaged very well into our robot and only required one CIM for the entire system.

Originally Posted by Libby K

We're not doing anything like this for FRC, so I can't speak to these cases, but this fall our two FTC teams discovered that the former does not work well, even for smaller robots. The metal 'tape' ended up breaking off from the spools they were attached to, and the teams switched to a different material after their first two events.

So the tapes actually tore away from the spool they were wound around? After my team's testing during build and first event, we only had one tape measure tear right near the hooks, and never had any issues regarding the spool. I also echo Mr. Lavery's questions.