[ChrisH]

SCRRF used this design for the field for our Pre-Ship Scrimmage. (Hosted by the BeachBots) Since it was set up in their facility, the BeachBots continued to use it for practice throughout the season. In general, it held up really well and we are very happy with it.

There are four minor changes I would make to the plans, based on our experience:

1) The spacers that set the width of the blocks that hold the field sides together are given an exact dimension. The problem is the width of 2x4s varies somewhat. Ours came out a little short because our lumber was a little wide. So just set that dimension to exactly twice the width of your 2x4s.

2) Our field electronics people requested that we add holes to the blocks so they could run wires through. We will be adding these in a few weeks.

3) The screws used to hold the blocks together weren't quite enough, especially on the blocks at the playerstations. The screws tend to pull out after a while. We are planning to replace them with nuts, washers and threaded rod.

4) We used different hinges on the entrance and exit ramps. The one suggested looked too flimsy in our opinion. Or more properly the screws to hold it in looked wimpy. So we used 3" door hinges instead. The suggested hinges would probably have worked for limited use, but we were building for the future.

Item 1 was apparent as soon as we tried to put the field together. Item 2 is a convienience thing and depending on the details of the new control system, it might be moot after this year's round of off-seasons. Item 3 took a while to show up. You would probably get through a one day event Ok as things are.

We also had trouble getting the velcro to stick to the bottom of the field pieces, but our wet, lowest bidder, lumber probably played a role there.

One thing we did that helped a lot on the side rails was building an assembly fixture. It took an extra hour or so, but it made the assembly of the side rails quite easy and ensured that the rails were lined up with each other. Once we had the wood cut (which was done using a chopsaw and a stop block for consistent lengths) we could assemble one in fifteen minutes or less.

In our case it took three engineers, two of whom have major home remodels under their belts, a week of evenings to assemble the first time. Now with 6 or 8 people and a couple of furniture dollys we can have it up in 30 minutes or less, assuming the carpet is down.

If this field design encourages more FIRST teams to start holding their own off-seasons, it could be more revolutionary than AndyMark's Super Shifters or Rumble at the Rock.

I cannot say enough good things about it.

ChrisH