pic: 4901 won't run out of air this season. That's for sure.

[JohnFogarty]

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[The_ShamWOW88]

What's the weight?

[nuclearnerd]

Harbor Freight has the tank listed at 15 pounds. About the same weight and capacity of 30 clippard tanks.

I'm smiling looking at this photo. We had similar air use issues with our pneumatic elevator in Week 4 because of the way we (mis)read the compressor specs. Our choice was either mount 30 tanks, or retrofit a motorized winch. We went with the winch, but the switch ate up most of Week 5 (and a good chunk of our budget). I hope the "more tanks" choice works well for you!

[MrForbes]

it takes our little Viair compressor just over half a minute to fill our one long skinny (2012 KOP) metal storage tank. I'm guessing it will take that compressor at least 5 minutes to fill the big tank. Hopefully you can get it done before each match....

[Richard Wallace]

We are using that same compressor, and a metal Viair tank. However, we are thinking that half a gallon of air should be enough.

Five gallons is a lot of air. Based on measurements my team reported earlier, I would estimate this compressor would require about four minutes to recharge a five gallon tank from ~100 PSI back to ~120 PSI. So with a tank that large, it is unlikely you would see a benefit from have the compressor on board.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by MrForbes

I'm guessing it will take that compressor at least 5 minutes to fill the big tank. Hopefully you can get it done before each match....

...without burning up that compressor that I'm guessing wasn't designed for continuous duty.

[rich2202]

Last year, I saw a team from Mexico do something similar. It took them about 5 minutes to recharge. If they made it to the finals, I have no idea what they would do to reset for the back to back matches.

[maths222]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

...without burning up that compressor that I'm guessing wasn't designed for continuous duty.

Actually, the VAIR 250c is rated for a 100% duty cycle.

[tickspe15]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

...without burning up that compressor that I'm guessing wasn't designed for continuous duty.

The compressor they are using, the viair 250C, is rated for continuous duty.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty

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How long does it take to charge that thing?


... and for that matter, how long does it take to dump after the match?

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

... and for that matter, how long does it take to dump after the match?

Why would they dump their stored air after the match?

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by MrBasse

Why would they dump their stored air after the match?

Without seeing the rest of the robot design, we can only guess.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by MrBasse

Why would they dump their stored air after the match?

I believe that this was explicitly required in previous years - that all stored air must be dumped at the end of the match. I couldn't find anything stating or implying so in the 2015 game manual.

[SM987]

If you find yourself close on weight, go for the 7gal aluminum one at HF. Saves a little bit and then you'll really have to try to run out of air.

[JohnFogarty]

We did a lot of math on the volume of air our Cylinders use per stroke and we found that an air tank with volume like this is almost a necessity.

The tank is 15 LBS. (I am aware of the light weight version at harbor freight and we'll keep that in mind if weight is problem, which at the moment our robot is about 30 pounds under weight without the tank on.

Our plan was to use the compressor off-board. If we needed extra weight...on it would go. The compressor is also roughly 15 pounds.

100% Duty cycle at 100 PSI. Charge time is 5 minutes from empty to full. We don't need to empty the system after every match. We would only do so in the times where we needed to. I also checked the rules for that.