Al's Annual Inspection Thread 2015

[Mr V]

Circuit breakers are circuit protection devices, that means they exist to protect the wire. What they protect the wire from is the insulation getting so hot it melts. There are many types of insulation with many different melting points and the rating for the wire and insulation is dependent on the conditions it is used in. That means there is no universal rating for say a 12ga wire. The CIM wires enter the motor where the temps will be much higher than ambient. Because of that they use high temp insulation which means that particular 14ga wire can safely carry a 40a load.

It is not practical for all inspectors to be trained to identify all types of insulation, know their temp ratings and to have to check the type of insulation on a robot by robot basis. So FIRST makes the assumption that a motor MFG knows what they are doing when they selected the attached wire and that the average team will be using wire with low temp insulation and set the rules accordingly.

[Wayne Doenges]

Several other things that get missed when building our bots.
1) Please allow easy access to the 120 amp breaker. No one wants to see their bot burn because the ref couldn't find the breaker.
2) The same for the pneumatic vent. Don't hide it.
3) Sharp corners. I don't like to see blood, espaeiclly my own
4) If you are using pneumatics, please have the guages where we can see them.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

James,
I checked our ViAir last night and the check valve is mounted directly to the compressor. It has a nice arrow punched into the body. The additional fitting appears to the transition for supplied check valve. I did not pull ours apart to see what, or if, there is a threaded transition on the check valve. This is certainly a question for the Q&A I think. I like that there is some metal at that port to help cool off the output air. That little compressor does run hot if you run it often.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

James,
I checked our ViAir last night and the check valve is mounted directly to the compressor. It has a nice arrow punched into the body. The additional fitting appears to the transition for supplied check valve. I did not pull ours apart to see what, or if, there is a threaded transition on the check valve. This is certainly a question for the Q&A I think. I like that there is some metal at that port to help cool off the output air. That little compressor does run hot if you run it often.

Thanks Al, will submit a Q&A.

FWIW we have mounted numerous 'hard' brass fittings to the compressor outlet to aid in cooling off the compressed air.

Edit: Q&A here - https://frc-qa.usfirst.org/Question/...fitting-remain