Zip ties?

[UrbanaRobotics]

My question is one I cannot find in the manual....are we aloud to use zip ties to hold everything together?

[GaryVoshol]

I wouldn't recommend them for everything, but they are useful, and allowed, for many applications.

[viper110110]

Last year, our wiring guy used over 30 zipties on our 18 inch square electronics board, plus another 20 elsewhere for other wires

our teacher now keeps the zip ties locked in the back room

[Dave McLaughlin]

Sure. You are even allowed to use zip ties to hold you cable ties down to your bar locks.

[MrForbes]

If you can't find it in the manual, the it is probably allowed.

But zip ties are not very strong, so it's best to use them only to hold light weight things, such as wires and tubing.

[RoboMom]

Hi Urbana,
We are lucky here to have a couple of very knowledgeable and experienced mentors who will gladly answer questions from any Maryland team. I will pm their contact. Make sure your team advisors are getting the weekly updates from them with lots of valuable info.

[Mark McLeod]

Interestingly, the official playing field is held together to some extent with zipties...

[Stephi Rae]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Interestingly, the official playing field is held together to some extent with zipties...

Including attaching the chain to the goals. (See document GE-10062 in the game specific drawings found here)

At the Manchester kickoff, each of the four goals had broken zip ties and chain dangling over the goal after having the ball thrown at them a few times. This changed the ball's reaction to hitting the chain pretty drastically.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by UrbanaRobotics

My question is one I cannot find in the manual....are we aloud to use zip ties to hold everything together?

There are few restrictions on fasteners. Zip ties happen to not be restricted.

However, you should use caution; they can provide a rather loose connection if used improperly.

[Jon Stratis]

We've used zip ties for years - almost (maybe entirely) exclusively for wire routing.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by UrbanaRobotics

My question is one I cannot find in the manual....are we aloud to use zip ties to hold everything together?

Is it allowed to hold everything together with zipties? yes.

Is it wise to hold everything together with zipties? Probably not.

[efoote868]

Zip ties are to FIRST as duct tape is to the common man.

I wonder how long it'll take before a robot will be fastened exclusively out of zip ties...

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by efoote868

...
I wonder how long it'll take before a robot will be fastened exclusively out of zip ties...

... with all the tails clipped to save weight!

[nighterfighter]

Originally Posted by efoote868

Zip ties are to FIRST as duct tape is to the common man.

I wonder how long it'll take before a robot will be fastened exclusively out of zip ties...

Our school's TSA decided to take an interest in our Vex robots...

Their robot was held together with pure zip ties. Everything above the drive train area was zip-tied.

[dmaldonado]

You can use zip ties to hold everything together but its not recomemded becasue they are not very strong.