pic: 1281 works out before finals at the Waterloo regional

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Richard

I assisted Tristan (lead inspector at Waterloo) when 1281 was inspected before the eliminations. We carefully considered the safety of the bracing scheme used to attach the large weight, and ultimately decided it was OK. The team did remove the two vises shown in the photo here -- weight exceeded the limit by about 2.6# as shown, and as previously stated the vises could not be made secure enough in time for competition. I think Tristan made the right call in allowing 1281 to pass inspection with these modifications. [BTW, Al is right -- we should have made them add the large weight to the BOM. If the total BOM cost had been close to the limit, we'd have considered that more carefully.]

Just to follow up here, Richard and I weren't prepared to allow only the zip-ties and the clamping action of the vises, but a team member pointed out to us that there were also several support brackets holding the weight in place (they're not clearly apparent in the image, which wasn't quite the final configuration). We also stipulated that, if used, a secondary means of attachment would have to be added to the vises.