Floor wearing away

[Booksy]

Wasn't regolith a gel coated frp? Maybe the gel is to stop that?

[Sunshine]

Marshal:

You are not alone with your concerns and results. We experienced that same thing the first time we tested the robot. We immediately stopped when we started to smell the burning plastic.

Houston we have a problem.

To make matters worst, I'm fearful of using our hallways or gym. Any sharp turning or spinning and the robot leaves marks in the wax finish. I can not afford to make enemies with the custodial staff.

We went out and sacrificed another $150 in FRP in an attempt spread out the damage and safety risk

Anyone have any idea what to do with this material after the season?

[ZakuAce]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

Marshal:
To make matters worst, I'm fearful of using our hallways or gym. Any sharp turning or spinning and the robot leaves marks in the wax finish. I can not afford to make enemies with the custodial staff.

This is why you keep some extra snacks and soda around to give to the janitors. Bribing them can't hurt

[Bongle]

Are you sure the powder isn't coming off the wheels? We did a weighted test this weekend in our gym and noticed that for the one drive we did with weight on the bot, it left big white streaks across the tan/brown gym floor. When we wiped the streak, we were left with very fine white powder, leaving us to conclude it was the wheels, and not the gym floor, that was the source.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by ZakuAce

This is why you keep some extra snacks and soda around to give to the janitors. Bribing them can't hurt

That sounds an awful lot like appreciating them.

Janitors are among those important behind-the-scenes people who help keep things running smoothly. It never hurts to say thank you, that's for sure.

edit: ah, after reading the rest of the thread, I see I'm in excellent company in praise of the janitors.
Rock on.

[coldfusion1279]

gel coats are only about 25 mils thick... it wont take long to wear through that in the same spots over and over again.

I worked on gel coats for a year. We used the same polyester resin as the composite material for both the fiber glass substrate and the gel coat. The only difference is that gel coats usually have an additive to increase resistance to UV or water, and they usually have a nice color pigment added, in this case a snow white. Otherwise, polyester resin is a yellowish translucent material.

Polyester is cross-linked with styrene molecules, which are benzene rings. When the polyester burns or is ground in to fine particulate, the aromatic groups go airborne, giving off a pungent 'urine' smell as described. The MSDS for the Glasliner FRP leaves the field "carcinogenic" blank. Frankly they don't know if it is dangerous in such small quantities of dust. Likely not, but the MSDS is not complete yet.

There's your daily dose of materials science.

[coldfusion1279]

Sorry I misread the MSDS, the toxicology report was negative, but it still recommends wearing a mask when there is particulate present.

Styrene is noticeable in ppm quantities, so while the smell is not a good sign, it won't harm anyone in limited exposure. If you find yourself in contact with a lot of dust, it might be a good idea to wear a mask

I also forgot to mention that I spoke with a polymers expert yesterday, he said pretty much the same thing, small quantities aren't too much of a problem, wear a mask if it bothers.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by coldfusion1279

gel coats are only about 25 mils thick... it wont take long to wear through that in the same spots over and over again.

I worked on gel coats for a year.

Did you work with textured materials, or smooth?

[coldfusion1279]

Originally Posted by squirrel

Did you work with textured materials, or smooth?

Smooth coatings, not sure how they made the texture. From my experience, the gel coats I made were spray on coatings, meaning the texture wouldn't cause too much variation on the thickness of the coating, but who knows... maybe they were blade cast and then a texture was applied. Though I think that is unlikely since that layer would have to be several mm thick.

I don't know if you were just curious or if you were trying to make a point of it, but good point anyway, heh. There is no information on the gel coat they use unfortunately =(

[MrForbes]

I was just curious, because it's possible that there is quite a difference if they make the panels with a different process than you are familiar with. I suggested sanding the texture off a corner of a sheet of FRP as a way to see how thick the gel coat is....I"m trying to be helpful!

We need to buy some soon, maybe we can figure it out. We also have experience with fiberglass on our robots, the chassis the past 3 years were made of pultruded structural fiberlass.

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

To make matters worst, I'm fearful of using our hallways or gym. Any sharp turning or spinning and the robot leaves marks in the wax finish. I can not afford to make enemies with the custodial staff.

$15 at Home Depot:



Really, just get a "team-owned" mop. If practice sessions leave any marks on the floor, clean them up yourselves and don't leave them behind for the janitorial staff. You will make friends with them, they will appreciate it, and everything should be cool. The staff at our school have been wonderful. We got them involved many years ago with what we were doing. We let them drive the robot around and promised to always clean up our messes before they would ever have to. Ever since then, they have been very accommodating of us.

-dave



.

[Rosiebotboss]

Originally Posted by dlavery

$15 at Home Depot:



Really, just get a "team-owned" mop. If practice sessions leave any marks on the floor, clean them up yourselves and don't leave them behind for the janitorial staff. You will make friends with them, they will appreciate it, and everything should be cool. The staff at our school have been wonderful. We got them involved many years ago with what we were doing. We let them drive the robot around and promised to always clean up our messes before they would ever have to. Ever since then, they have been very accommodating of us.

-dave



.

...and it helps to feed them anytime your team hosts a pasta dinner for a fund raiser like we do. Or leave them the left over donuts......like THAT is ever gonna happen!!

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by dlavery

$15 at Home Depot:



Really, just get a "team-owned" mop. If practice sessions leave any marks on the floor, clean them up yourselves and don't leave them behind...

Oh, c'mon now Dave, we can get a little more high-tech than that.
I won't mention the Scooba since that is the obvious choice, so instead I'll default to mentioning this little 'bot!
http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/01/t...7-swiffer-bot/


Or you can always buy a Swiffer, & hear the song "baby come back" playing in the background while your old mop looks on.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Booksy

Wasn't regolith a gel coated frp?

The gel would wear for a while before you get down to the fiberglass. Probably the texture is mostly or all gel, and the backing is fiberglass. You could carefully sand a corner of the sheet and find out quickly. It can't be any worse than working on a Corvette! (ugh)

[Cooley744]

Yupp I noticed this problem as soon as we started driving on the stuff. I've gotten figerglass in my hands multiple times already. It hurts pretty bad , not to mention the smell...and breathing it in. The main concern of FIRST will probably be the large amounts of people breathing in fiberglass dust. That CAN NOT be good.