Safety Alert please read!

[dcarr]

We have at least 8 of the Clippard Tanks...until we know for sure if they're actually bad, I think that if anything we'll just ask for the minimum number of replacements that we actually need on robots this season. If they are indeed safe, the weight savings are worth it.

[zeldathegood]

Does someone have the email address to request replacement air tanks from Clippart?

Thanks!

[Team3266Spencer]

One of our air tank's was cracked on the "rim" right out of the box. We're glad we spotted it before we put it on to our robot all thanks to this thread. Thank you, and were glad everyone's okay!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Spencer,
I bet that the manufacturer will want to know or see that defect.

[ToddF]

One legal way to provide some measure of protection of your tanks from external damage, or shrapnel containment would be to use expandable mesh sleeving. This is the stuff usually used for wire bundling, and which also can be used to make pneumatic muscles.

McMaster Carr has it in various colors in a size suitable for slipping your tank inside.
ID range: 1 1/2" to 3 1/2"
Part number: 9284K419
Price: $14.53 for 10 feet.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Todd,
While this product might contain the broken parts, I would not want to mislead people into thinking this a good fix. This mesh is designed for something entirely different.

[jeser#1772]

this picture describes how my team are handling the air cylinders after this tread


If you have definitive decisions please let us know, we are in Brazil ... swap or buy new cylinders would lose more than 2 weeks

Jeser
1772

[JohnChristensen]

I know this thread is old news, but I want to caution teams with these tanks still on hand. One of our mentors attempted to install a 90 degree fitting (plastic -- from FIRST Choice) on one of our tanks today, he was only able to turn the fitting about 400 degrees before the rib on the port cracked open. It was a hairline crack, hardly even noticeable to the eye, however it extended the entire length of the threads and was about an 1/8" deep. Since he was watching for this to happen, the flaw was discovered before a real problem occurred. Our plan had been to test each tank with shop air (~140psi) prior to use, after seeing how fast these crack we are moving on to other tanks. If you are going to continue using these tanks, please do so with caution.

[vic burg]

Yikes! Glad everyone is safe!

[Wetzel]

Did FIRST include this information in an email blast? I was visiting a team earlier this week and they didn't know about this issue. They were in the process of setting up a pneumatics breadboard. I showed them the blog post and a bit of pneumatics safety. They decided to plumb everything as training, but were not going to use these tanks in a live system. I am working with a different subgroup when 20 minutes later when one of the pneumatics kids came over with a cracked cylinder. They had followed the blog installation instructions and had put a crack that is vertically the full length of the threading, out through one of the ribs, and about 1 cm down the outside of the tube. They said they probably would not have noticed if I hadn't pointed out the blog post and they were concerned about doing it correctly and looking at it closely.

The point is that teams still don't know, and tanks are still having issues.

Wetzel

[Mark McLeod]

I haven't seen a FIRST email blast in two weeks-unusual during build season.

Just the Blog warning.

And a cryptic notice to look at the blog warning, on the KOP Technical Resources webpage.

[FrankJ]

The email blasts have been going out. I do not recall see a warning about the air cylinders on them though. There are also on first's web site if anybody wants to look through them.