[EricH]

Originally Posted by camper365

How do the pneumatics release the compressed air?

Do they build up a certain amount of pressure (i.e. 1/2 of the maximum value) and release that or build it up completely and only release 1/2 of the built pressure?

Links to a manual would be helpful

The pneumatics build up the entire pressure that is allowed in that area. Each cylinder has a certain volume of air that it uses every time it operates. When a vent valve is opened, air under pressure rushes out, allowing enough pressurized air to come in on the other side of the cylinder to fill that volume and move the piston. Assuming that the system doesn't refill, eventually the pressure won't be enough to move that volume of air into the cylinder, and the pneumatics won't work any more until they're filled up again.

Typically, on FRC robots, teams will fill up their system with as much air as it can hold, and then fill it up again once it gets below a certain level, so that the cylinders will always fire.

The FRC pneumatics manual would ordinarily be available right now, but seems to be down. You could try finding the 2009 one, bearing in mind that things may change a bit from then to the 2010 one.