View Single Post
  #7   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 09-08-2004, 22:52
suneel112 suneel112 is offline
Registered User
AKA: the angry designer on 461
#0461 (Westside Boiler Invasion)
Team Role: Student
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: West Lafayette, IN
Posts: 229
suneel112 has much to be proud ofsuneel112 has much to be proud ofsuneel112 has much to be proud ofsuneel112 has much to be proud ofsuneel112 has much to be proud ofsuneel112 has much to be proud ofsuneel112 has much to be proud ofsuneel112 has much to be proud of
Send a message via AIM to suneel112
Re: Enough buying talk. Let's hear about ghettofab!

I have participated in at least two ghettofabs during my 3 years. The first one was 2002.

There was one advisor who insisted on having four, crab-movable and lifting up tank treads, which weighed in at 50 pounds. This only left room for one arm, and we could only haul one goal with all that power. We didn't do well at all that year, and instead of going to nationals (the last time they were held in Orlando ) , we went to the St. Louis Regional. There the other advisors and upperclassmen decided to remove two of the tank treads and replace them with the equivalent of aluminum casters. That gave us weight (about 20 pounds) to put the arm back on and we decided we would have to have a mechanism that goes back to the home zone (to score 10 points). We didn't know what to do until an advisor suggested measuring tape. So we put a roll of measuring tape on the top of the robot and had a FP motor shoot it backwards to the home zone. It worked quite well, and was made completely out of wood, completely on site without any machine shop.

This year (2004), our arm wasn't working with the high standards we hoped it would. Even when the pneumatic was pushed all the way in, the ball would still slip out. I suggested supergrip (which we used extensively last year) but it turned out we didn't have any. Then somebody suggested using a popped 2x ball to do the trick. We got a popped 2x ball (I don't remember whether it was form our kit or from our good friends on 447) , cut it into strips, and stretched it around the arms. We then used Zip Ties (Confucius' Law of FIRST: Know thy Ziptie ) to keep it on, and the only times a ball went out of the arm after that was when it was vigorously pushed out. Proof that Ghettofab works.
__________________
I'm back like the greatest, from a four year hiatus,
Haters cry later, I'm just getting my paper.
Reply With Quote