12-02-2015 10:03

The_ShamWOW88

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

What's the weight?

12-02-2015 10:06

Daniel_LaFleur

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty loading photo ...

12-02-2015 10:08

nuclearnerd

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

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!

12-02-2015 10:33

MrForbes

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

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....

12-02-2015 10:55

Richard Wallace

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

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.

12-02-2015 11:00

GeeTwo

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

Quote:

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....

12-02-2015 11:04

rich2202

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

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.

12-02-2015 11:12

maths222

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

Quote:

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

12-02-2015 11:14

tickspe15

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

Quote:

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

12-02-2015 11:28

MrBasse

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

Quote:

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

12-02-2015 12:38

MrForbes

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrBasse Why would they dump their stored air after the match?

12-02-2015 14:13

GeeTwo

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrBasse Why would they dump their stored air after the match?

12-02-2015 14:37

SM987

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

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.

12-02-2015 17:36

JohnFogarty

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

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.

12-02-2015 22:40

Lemon

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

Well I guess we aren't the only team going with a lot of air this year, although we do have you beat by one gallon

12-02-2015 22:53

orangemoore

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

12-02-2015 23:00

JohnFogarty

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangemoore Finals Could Be a problem if you have to fix something during that time.

12-02-2015 23:31

GeeTwo

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty 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.

13-02-2015 00:04

JohnFogarty

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeeTwo Cool - when I looked for Ultimate Ascent (our primary climber actuators were pneumatic, as well as the "trigger" for the frisbee thrower), the only 100% duty cycle compressors I found were significantly larger.

13-02-2015 00:08

MrForbes

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

Inspection will be fun, you get to wait around for the compressor to refill the tank.....

Sounds like a neat robot, hopefully we'll see some video soon!

13-02-2015 00:08

chapman1

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

Well done! Tongue in cheek is sorely lacking not only in today's world, but also in FRC

13-02-2015 22:12

Chinske4296

Our team went with an airless robot design. (No compressor or air tanks) early prototypes had pneumatics, but they were voted out.

25-02-2015 22:31

Sperkowsky

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

we may use this as mass air storage for a t-shirt cannon. Could you explain how you set it up

Thanks - Sam

25-02-2015 23:21

JohnFogarty

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky we may use this as mass air storage for a t-shirt cannon. Could you explain how you set it up Thanks - Sam

26-02-2015 10:52

Sperkowsky

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty The air tank comes with a bronze output fitting. That fitting has two outputs on it one 1/4 NPT port and one 1/8 NPT port where the gauge is normally. We simply plugged the 1/4 NPT output and then put a fitting into the 1/8 NPT output to allow for use with the pneumatic tubing allowed within the rules. Funny enough. We now use a 7 Gallon Aluminum air tank on our bot.