[DFTF] Brave Pneumatic World...

[Joe Johnson]

This is part of a series of posts called Drinking From The Firehose on getting Dr Joe back up to speed on All Things FIRST.

Today's topic:
Brave Pneumatic World...

From what I hear, this pneumatic world of FIRST has expanded enormously since I've been in the thick of things.

I can read the rules easily enough but taking advantage of the new freedoms? That is another thing entirely.

So... ...what do I need to know?

Some thought starters:

• Care and feeding of the New Pump
• Valves? Assuming that I want to take advantage of the new rules, what valves should I pick? Is there a manifold/valve pack set up that is the favorite of all the cool kids?
• Tanks for the Memories. Is it true that Thunder Chickens had so many light weight tanks under the new rules that they almost needed to call time out during the elims in order to recharge them between matches? Where do I get these huge, light tanks?
• Cylinder sourcing? Anything special to keep in mind or just call the local distributor (or order from McMaster)?
• Tips and Traps with regard to interfacing with the cRIO
• Tubing, fittings, regulators, dials, etc. Please share your best
• Anything that is clever or unusual that you've figured out that you like to share (if you only use X in combination with Y, you can do Z)
• Please share any secret sauce that a noobie needs to know to gain the edge.

Thanks,
Joe J.