Quote:
Originally Posted by trumpthero786
Hmm I can't imagine using anything BUT the plastic tanks, but you have far more experience than I do. What sorts of failures have you seen in them?
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We always use them. Not the white ones, but we had 5 of the black tanks on our robot last year and that robot that went an entire season, plus two off-season events, and numerous outreach activities without a problem. Just check that your wiring is correct, the compressor shutoff switch is fully functional, and you'll never have a probem. (yeah, there's white ones that are perfectly okay, but if you can't tell the difference between a good white tank and a bad white tank, and you still can't tell after doing some research, you're better off just using something else) We still had one of the bad white tanks for quite a while, and we didn't realize we still had it until someone found it in the bottom of a scrap bin last season. After checking its model number on line and realizing it was one of the failure-prone tanks, we got rid of it immediately.
I was at an event where one of those tanks exploded. Fortunately, I wasn't nearby, but that bang could be heard throughout the entire building. Personally, if I had even the slightest feeling that one of the air tanks might be faulty, I probably wouldn't use it purely out of superstition. However, this doesn't mean those tanks are objectively against the rules, and it also doesn't give an RI the ability to fail you unless the tank is actually not legal. However, with such an ambiguous marking, if those tanks were to be used, it would be wise to figure out what they actually are, and ensure that the documentation legitimizing their use is on-hand.