First Time Pneumatics

[nickcvet89]

Originally Posted by SuperBK

Hi. Using pneumatics for the first time.
Question 1. How practical is it to just have tanks and not carry the compressor around? I know it depends on how much pneumatic motion you have, but given past competitions, has that proved practical?
Question 2. If the compressor is not on board the robot, I understand that it has to still be powered and controlled by the robot. How do you connect / disconnect the air?. Can a "quick coupling" type connector be used?
Question 3. According to <R103>, the wires from the Nason pressure switch must be connected to a digital input on the robot controller, and then the robot controller must control a spike with a relay output to turn off the compressor. Why won't they just let us put the pressure switch in series with the control signal for the spike and not have to worry about the controller turning it off? The software is no big deal, but I'm thinking about when the controller is being programmed, or freezes up, etc.
Thanks
Brian

It is ideal to have the compressor on the robot due to the tanks, because they do not store that much air. If you arent using that much air then I would go with just the tanks.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by nickcvet89

It is ideal to have the compressor on the robot due to the tanks, because they do not store that much air. If you arent using that much air then I would go with just the tanks.

Keep in mind, O veteran, that storage capacity is now FOUR tanks instead of two.

Then again, what is the air being used for? Shifting? No problem. Ramp deploying only? No problem. Actuator for tube gripper? Might be a problem. Combination of above? You need onboard compressor.

[whytheheckme]

We have decided to put the compressor on board this year. We have 4 solenoids that are in use to simply pick up and drop tubes. This requires an air compressor.

Maybe we should start a poll; How many teams will have a compressor on board. This would not be useful in any way other than seeing the statistics. However it would be interesting to see how many teams have a tube grabber design that use pneumos...

Jacob