Question about plastic chain

FIRST General Forum
1

We received this plastic chain in the kit a few years ago. It’s fairly wide and black. Can anybody help me identify who makes this, and the specific name of it.
Thanks

EDIT - this chain can only bend in one direction

2

I do believe the part you are referring to is the Energy Chain by Igus.

3

Any chance you have a photo of it? That may make it easier to identify

4

I know the stuff. Not by name, though. We call it Robotics Crack because nobody on our team CAN’T play with it.

5

I think Allison has it right. What you describe definitely sound’s like Igus Energy Chain. Also, like 675, we play it a lot… the lead screw and this little pickeruper pincer thingy we have are the only things that come close in raw amount of wasted time.

6

Allison,
thx

We love you!

-1466

7

Igus ReadyChain.
http://www.igus.com/harness.asp

8

It is common knowledge that these things are one of THE biggest time wasters in all of FRC, no doubt. But the question truely is, what teams have actually used this thing for it’s intended purposes?

9

I have seen a few, but I cant find the pics right now. I have seen it used in a few soda vending machines.

10

It is used to keep electrical and pneumatic cables mounted safely on moving parts. I have not noticed it being used on robots, but it probably has been.

It would be great for keeping the sensor and gripper wires safe on your elevator/fork lift…if you have one…

11

We used it on our 2007 robot to keep control of the motor/sensor wires and the pneumatic line that went from the base of our elevator to the second stage. The energy chain was actually so packed that a couple of wires had to be zip-tied to the outside of the it. Also, I understand RAGE used it raise their 2005 arm (and I think their '07 arm, but I am not certain).

12

We spent the majority of our time playing with it and when we finally found a use for it, one of our mentors had put it down his pants to keep people from playing with it and now nobody will touch it. So we do not plan on using it anymore.

13

We used it on our 2007 robot. And I agree it is tons of fun to play with.

14

We used this stuff last year to protect our pneumatic wires and electrical wires for the extension in our arm. Its good stuff, even after getting stuck in the rack a couple times it held up nicely and protected our wires. here’s a pic

15

We used it on our robot last year on our arm that would move out of the way of our ramps.

You will see it used a lot on industrial machines.

16

ahahhaahaaa… :smiley: that is the funniest thing I have heard in a long time. You could always order new stuff… :smiley:

heh, Vivek

p.s. I remember that thing, good times…

17

254 and 968 used it to route the wiring and pneumatic tubing for our grabber up the elevator, last year.