One thing to note on the hanging tetras...

[Billfred]

I was looking at the field today, especially at the hanging tetras.

I'll tell you now, if you didn't figure it out already (and by looking at the topics thus far, it doesn't look like anyone has)...

• Putting a tetra on top will make it drop.
• Giving it any reasonable amount of force on the side will make it drop.
• A good whack to the goal about midways (like me hitting it with the palm of my hand with a bit of a grunt) will make it drop. (Note that you don't want to break the field, lest the thing that drops becomes your ranking.)

And one other thing about the tetras that may or may not be addressed soon...holding some of them, a loose nut in one piece of the pipe will cause that part to spin around. Know that if you're planning on building a one-pole grabber.

[Leav]

Originally Posted by Billfred

And one other thing about the tetras that may or may not be addressed soon...holding some of them, a loose nut in one piece of the pipe will cause that part to spin around. Know that if you're planning on building a one-pole grabber.

what does that have to do with the nut? are these pvc pipes, or poles?

another thing to note, though might have been said, is that you can't just through them on top, you have to place them as shown in the clips.
I suspect that if you just carelessly put them on top, they might not align easily.

i hope that made sense, it's real early right now, i'm going to prepare our bot for the israeli kickoff (which will be really boring cause i watched the whole thing yesterday )

[AmyPrib]

Originally Posted by Leav

another thing to note, though might have been said, is that you can't just through them on top, you have to place them as shown in the clips.
I suspect that if you just carelessly put them on top, they might not align easily.

Try and put a tetra on a goal not-aligned, or carelessly... it's hard to balance it that way, and it takes just the slightest movement to knock it into place.. it'll slide into seated position... this is a good thing.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Leav

what does that have to do with the nut? are these pvc pipes, or poles?

They're PVC pipes, yes. But the tetra-maker plates are held in place by nuts and bolts. They come loose, and the pipe it is attached to rotates.

Of course, you can retighten it (I fixed one with my fingers), but when you've got 80 of the darn things around the field, that may get a bit unwieldly.

[Michael Hill]

I don't know about giving it a side whack would take it down. They are using some pretty heavy magnets (50 pounders to be exact). That'll be a little bit of force to take down. Nothing that should be too hard however.

[tkwetzel]

Originally Posted by Billfred

They're PVC pipes, yes. But the tetra-maker plates are held in place by nuts and bolts. They come loose, and the pipe it is attached to rotates.

Of course, you can retighten it (I fixed one with my fingers), but when you've got 80 of the darn things around the field, that may get a bit unwieldly.

On the actual field pieces, the end caps will be glued to the pipe, so it will not rotate. And the bolts should be installed with loctite, so there should be very little chance of them coming apart during a competition.

[meaubry]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

I don't know about giving it a side whack would take it down. They are using some pretty heavy magnets (50 pounders to be exact). That'll be a little bit of force to take down. Nothing that should be too hard however.

Mike - I don't recall seeing a 50 lb magnet - I think they hang from something like a 3 lb magnet - it looked to me like the magnet described in the non-encrypted field pieces and parts list released on Thursday. I thought they were called pot magnets or something like that - anyways, I don't think they are 50 lb magnets, but - maybe I missed that.

[Michael Hill]

Well..the tetras would in no way be able to be held up by 3 lb magnets as they are 8.5 pounds each. I was talking to one of the builders of the field in Kokomo. I asked how the hanging tetras were attached. He said there are 3 washers on the tetras and a 50 lb magnet on the goal.

[Psycho Penguin]

the magnets are small round disc-shaped magnets that can rotate 360 degrees It doesn't take much force to knock the tetra down

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by meaubry

Mike - I don't recall seeing a 50 lb magnet - I think they hang from something like a 3 lb magnet - it looked to me like the magnet described in the non-encrypted field pieces and parts list released on Thursday. I thought they were called pot magnets or something like that - anyways, I don't think they are 50 lb magnets, but - maybe I missed that.

The pot magnets were listed as 30lbs from one source and 50 lbs from the other.

[Michael Hill]

I personally think 30 would sound like a better number. 50 seems like it would be an overkill.

[meaubry]

Thanks Joe - I missed that.

The hanging tetras weigh about 8.5 lbs (vision tetras weigh more)
so - I suppose that makes sense.

Hope it is 30 lbs. although impacts tend to dislodge magnets even if they are pretty strong.

[Michael Hill]

I don't know how much impact they will receive since the hanging tetras will only be available in autonomous mode.

[EddieMcD]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

I don't know how much impact they will receive since the hanging tetras will only be available in autonomous mode.

Extend, turn around, WHACK.

Seems like it'll be quite common for teams unable to get the vision tetras.

[rangersteve]

I have looked everywhere and can't find out how many points you recieve for knocking off a hanging tetra or for capping with a vision tetra. Does anyone know???