[archiver]

Posted by Bryan Lee at 03/06/2001 2:55 PM EST


Engineer on team #151, Nor'East Beast, from Nashua HS and BAE SYSTEMS.


In Reply to: Sticking Ramps and Fat Goals!
Posted by Andy Grady on 03/05/2001 9:42 AM EST:



I can't address the goal issue, but our team was very interested in the bridge at UTC since we were using software to balance the bridge.

Thursday was looking pretty sad for us in that aspect. And considering we refined our technique for a week prior on a bridge we built, we were highly confused.

From discussions with FIRST at the event, it turns out that the angle supports attached to the bridge were considerably closer than many teams had built. Someone on our team has the dimensions as measured off of the UTC bridge. Going from memory I'd say the inside gap from metal to metal was less than 3/16" on both sides. Not a lot of space to tilt. We modified some team's bridge in the UTC pits (thanks to that team) and ours at home by adding washers inbetween the 4x6 and the metal support on top of it to reduce the gap.

On the plus side, the bridges were all made by the same company, so this characteristic will be the same for all of the bridges in use. The bridge at UTC also had additional cross members near the tapered ends that interfered with the designs of some teams robots (specifically forklift designs). Between Thursday and Friday, those additional supports (which weren't in the blueprints) were removed. Word has it that FIRST removed them from the bridge at the KSC regional as well and will remove them from all of the bridges used in competition.

So expect stiff bridges, but as the competition wore on, the bridge started to become noticably looser. I mention this because I think the UTC bridge will show up at another regional eventually finding it's way to Florida.

Bryan


: Hi all,
: I know some people noticed at the New England Regional that the ramp seemed to be sticking a bit. By this I mean the ramp was more of a 5-6 point stable ramp instead of a 3 point stable ramp. After close observation my team noticed that the 2 angle brackets where tight up against the two angle supports across the wooden barrier, as opposed to the ramp we used at home (and many other teams also) which was loose on those angle supports. My question goes out to anyone at the KSC Regional, did any of you notice this stickiness in the ramp down there? Also we believe that the PVC piping that first used on the goals was a little larger in diameter than the goals we constructed. Did anyone notice this at either regional?
: Thanx much,
: Andy Grady