pic: 4965 T-Shirt Robot

[Jalerre]

loading photo ...

[Billfred]

Looks awesome! (Though being team 4965, I was kinda expecting a fire truck paint scheme. )

What are you using as a pressure vessel? It's hard to tell by the photo.

[JohnFogarty]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Looks awesome! (Though being team 4965, I was kinda expecting a fire truck paint scheme. )

What are you using as a pressure vessel? It's hard to tell by the photo.

I could be wrong, and I hope I am.
That looks like a PVC tank and a PVC barrel too.

[Jalerre]

Originally Posted by Billfred

being team 4965, I was kinda expecting a fire truck paint scheme.

That's what we were originally planning but due to a time constraint of an event we were planning on going to, we went with this design. We still may try to give it a fire truck look in the future.

Originally Posted by Billfred

What are you using as a pressure vessel? It's hard to tell by the photo.

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty

I could be wrong, and I hope I am.
That looks like a PVC tank and a PVC barrel too.

I know that it is a big no-no but the barrel and the tank it is directly connected to is PVC. The main storage tank is made of metal. We are planning to make changes to the robot this offseason and that may be one of the things that we change.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by Jalerre

I know that it is a big no-no but the barrel and the tank it is directly connected to is PVC. The main storage tank is made of metal. We are planning to make changes to the robot this off-season and that may be one of the things that we change.

Personally I have mixed feelings about PVC barrels, to me it seems like any pressure buildup would be momentary and limited, and therefor not much of a concern. I will, however, agree with others that using PVC as an accumulator is extremely dangerous (plastic shrapnel is no fun).

[fargus111111111]

While I do share the concern about the pvc tank that others have mentioned, I would not be at all concerned about the pvc barrel. I have seen many t-shirt shooters (including our own) with pvc barrels that are performing wonderfully. The pressure in the barrel is relatively low and only lasts a moment therefore the plastic is plenty strong.
Over all it looks really cool. I love robots like this that look like something more than just a robot, not that just a robot isn't cool, it is, but the extra work to make a body for it just makes it look that much cooler.

[chapman1]

Instead of this igniting yet another debate on the physics of air vs. physics of water, making PVC less desirable than metal in T-shirt cannons, let me just refer everyone to the prior threads that do so.

Then, let me commend your team on the robot! What a great PR tool. We're hoping to do the same one of these years. A few more details would be helpful: pressures, diameters, how you prepare the shirts, etc.

[Jalerre]

Originally Posted by chapman1

Then, let me commend your team on the robot! What a great PR tool. We're hoping to do the same one of these years. A few more details would be helpful: pressures, diameters, how you prepare the shirts, etc.

The pressure we launch at varies depending on where we are and how far we need the shirts to go. Its usually between 40-60 psi. If we have very little room to launch we may back it down to 20-30 psi. I believe the diameter of the barrel is around 6" but I wasn't directly involved with the build. We prepare shirts by rolling them up and wrapping them with either tape or a rubber band. We sometimes put flyers in the shirts that have information about our team.