Pneumatic Restrictions & Improvments

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

Please, no!

Plastic tanks are one of my favorite technical developments for FRC in recent years. They make large volume pneumatic systems much, much lighter, and have raised the overall level of competition. There prevalence in FRC speaks volumes to how useful the average team has found them.

The failures in the white plastic tanks that have occurred have all been the result of user error, not defects in the tanks. All the failures that I have seen reported on CD were the result of overtightening the fittings on the white plastic tanks (and there have been no reported catastrophic failures of the black tanks). This problem has already been solved in two ways. First, the black plastic tanks (with integrated NPT fittings, which cannot be overtightened) are being sold, and can be exchanged for the white tanks for free. Second, there's been a great deal of education in the FRC community about the dangers of overtightening these fittings, both through Bills Blog, and these forums. Another possible way to resolve the issue would be through more rigorous pneumatic inspection, or even possibly a FRC-wide phaseout of the white plastic tanks (but NOT a blanket ban on plastic tanks in general).

We deal with a lot of stuff in FRC that's potentially dangerous. Dropped robots could break toes, batteries can leak, drills and saws can seriously injure students if misused, and any number of high potential energy mechanisms could inflict great injury if they failed catastrophically. Thankfully, our response as a sport isn't just to ban anything that could potentially be a safety risk. Instead, we maintain a safety-orientated culture, educate students and mentors about potential safety issues, and deal with potentially unsafe robot mechanisms on a case by case basis at regionals.

The right way to deal with this safety issue is through updated pneumatic inspections and through education to the community. Blanket bans are unnecessarily blunt, and would deprive teams of a great resource.

There have been other causes for tank failures than over tightened fittings. Improper mounting, abrasions, impacts have been documented causes of failures.

The white Clippard tanks have been banned, that is why FIRST sent black Clippard tanks to later events for the free exchange for the white tanks.