Just had an email of someone who has said we may have a MAJOR PINCH hazard on our hand with our scissor mechanism we have used.
We will be at Chesapeake so will see you there.
SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!!! HELP!!!
Cheers
Si (Team Mentor) 2120
UK TEAM!!
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j102/shuntridge/n604842941_601753_4868.jpg
if you have time you can cover it with a bit of aluminum or plastic and thn place decals on the cover warning of a pinch hazard
Put guarding on. If that is not possible, advertise that the pinch points are there with yellow and black stripes or something similar. Also, Q&A answered a similar question yesterday.
HMMMMM.
WARNING STICKERS ALL OVER IT.
Glad to see your robot is pure student built as we proud ourselves of that to, just left to us mentors to panic wildly at the last minutes after hours of hard work.:ahh:
Any other suggestions from anyone would be gratefully received.
Cheers
Si.
Simon, this is Joe. Itās not a major problem, the rules even suggest you to use striped tape to point out pinch points.
The inspectors are looking for an effort on your part to protect these pinch points and demonstrate safety.
Hope the tape will do the trick as we are pretty much up to the top of the weight limit already.
Will also possibly put some limit bolts in so that it cant fully close?!?!
Lets hope that no-one gets there head in it, ha ha 
KEEP THE SUGGESTIONS COMING IN, we will be doing the last bit of work in the morning.
DONT PANIC KIDS, leave that to me!!
yea that was a serious problem for us last year we put in some decals that pointed out the pinch point. we wanted to see what it would do to a finger so we experimented with some bones and every single one got crushed into 2 pieces it would be very painful/dangerous to put your finger in there.
I can just see your robot in your profile pic and i looks the same.
I will take some carrots in tomorrow and experiment with them, hope they do not get broke to much!!!
Did you get away with just the stickers on it for the judges?!?!
Cheers
Si.
It appears to me that if you do mechanically limit the travel so that it cannot compress more than is shown in the picture, then you cover the holes near the center and the bars they would āsliceā with black/yellow warning tape, it will probably be acceptable.
Iām not an inspector, though!
last year it did but i dont know about this year. and that carrots gonna make a huge messā¦when we tried it out we put the bone in a ziplock bag so we dont make a mess.
I can think of at least 3 things you can do to prevent injuries as much as possible in this situation.
Use bungee cords, or some kind of locking mechanism to keep your scissor mechanism down while lifting the robot so it wonāt be an issue.
Establish safe points on the robot to act as handles while carrying the robot. Anywhere but near the scissor arms basically, and away from a drivetrain.
For safetyās sake, put some of these (or similar markings) on your robot where you think the biggest dangers would be located, or better yet, have some with you and when you get to your competition, ask the inspector where the best location would be to put them.
http://www.speedysigns.com/images/osha/large/WARNING043.gif
Work with the inspectors, & not against them with this, and you will be just fine.
Yeah that really is not a major problemā¦just put yellow and black tape so that the judges can seeā¦
Try using silicon spray or a spray lubricant
We have placed some warning stickers on it today and then put in some bolts to limits the closing of it, i.e. it cant fully shut avoiding the shearing / pinching action.
Do you thing this may work??
ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREAT ON THIS SLIGHTLY PANIC INDUCED MADNESS< EEEEEK
That should work. On the design you have, itāll be close to impossible to fully shield the pinch points, so this is the next best thing.
Our robot now has all its warning stickers on it and looks like some kind of mad bubble bee?!?!
Your bot is very shiny and awesome looking, I think I would let it pinch me just because of the pure awesome that may be bestowed upon me.
Seriously tho, its not a huge issue tape or ( watch out signs ) are fine, I think everyone can get pinched somewhere on their bot if their hand is in the wrong place.
Nothing wrong with looking like a āmad bumble beeā!!
Seriously, we - Team 836 (The RoboBEES!) will be at Chesapeake. If you need assistance, we can certainly help. Iāve already told some of my guys (and gals, too!) to see if you need a hand during the competition.
If you need anything, donāt hesitate to come to our pit - the one that looks like a āmadā bee hive! 
Best regards,
Steve
**THANKS FOLKS!!!
A huge massive British thank you very much old chaps to all that have help us out with this problem.
We seem to have it just about sorted, well lets hope so as it is now on its way to the US!!
Cheers and thanks again.
Simon Huntridge (Mentor)**