The Portcullis Mystery

[matthewdenny]

I have looked through the field element construction guides, but can't seem to find definitively what the Portcullis door is like. Is it a lattice of solid bars that you can reach through, or is it a solid piece of clear plastic that has lines drawn on it to make it look like bars?

[samefman]

The door is a solid piece of plastic. So your robot cannot reach through bars to help lift it. The bars are just printed onto the plastic for visibility and theme purposes.

[Koko Ed]

What I wonder is how solid it is. Can it take a hit from a speeding robot undamaged because I'm sure it'll get smashed into more than once.

[Branden2648]

A few people from my team went to the Manchester kickoff and it is Polycarbonate with Bar decals and a 1x1 box steel tubing frame around the whole perimeter of the door on the back side.

[JayNico]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

What I wonder is how solid it is. Can it take a hit from a speeding robot undamaged because I'm sure it'll get smashed into more than once.

I assume that it's reasonably flexible, I don't know anything specific about the material but FIRST has to have accounted for the high-velocity antics of this year. If not, we're in for a lot of penalties.

[dieDoktor]

Originally Posted by samefman

The door is a solid piece of plastic. So your robot cannot reach through bars to help lift it. The bars are just printed onto the plastic for visibility and theme purposes.

Is it transparent with the bars printed on? Or is it some opaquematerial that has the bars printed on as well?

[samefman]

It's clear polycarbonate with decorations or stickers on it to make it look like bars. It's completely transparent except for the decals which somewhat hinder visibility.

[aidanl78]

The Portcullis is a 5lb steel frame with, from what I have read, 1/8in. thick Lexan covering the gaps so no robot can travel through

[Mr. Ackroyd]

There are pictures of the field in the thread I posted. You can see through the Portcullis.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=141594

[Roger]

If it's a similar material to the low side walls, I'd guess it could take quite a hit. Whether the pins holding it into the track can stay together, that remains to be seen.

Is the "printing" sandwiched inside or on one of the outer surfaces? I can see that getting scratched off.

[matthewdenny]

Another question: is their a lip on the bottom of the portcullis door? If so what does it look like? Does a lib stick out perpendicular to the door?

[gryphon97]

Originally Posted by matthewdenny

Another question: is their a lip on the bottom of the portcullis door? If so what does it look like? Does a lib stick out perpendicular to the door?

I suggest you take a look at the Field Components PDF file. The details for the Portcullis are in there. Start at page 211. The polycarbonate is on page 221.

[matthewdenny]

After consulting the pages you recommend, I still have no insight into the question. It looks like there is a lip on the CAD render, but I don't see any dimensions or reference to it anywhere.

[mrnoble]

5 lbs of steel, plus a large sheet of 1/8" polycarbonate. Has anybody build the full device, and if so, are the forces necessary to lift it consistent with what we've been told to expect? I'm thinking 2012, of course. The difference between teams who had access to the full and accurate field and those who built the simple version of the bridge were, well, the difference between winning and losing, mostly.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by matthewdenny

After consulting the pages you recommend, I still have no insight into the question. It looks like there is a lip on the CAD render, but I don't see any dimensions or reference to it anywhere.

Try roughly page 259 in conjunction with 256.