My school banned pneumatics, so I’m thinking of using ratchets instead of pnuematics. Would it be possible? And how would I do it?
Edit: Our school just banned our team from using it telling us to “use simpler designs”
It has been done already so it is possible. In this video, the roller spinner is ratcheted to the endgame winch so that if the roller spinner spins the “wrong way”, it triggers the winch. I would think you can use a similar concept for something like a string catapult where when the ratchet becomes engaged it will draw back a catapult with string on it.
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Yeah, I was more on the catapult way, but I don’t have a clue on how to do it
I’m a robotics coach and I like to stay on top of possible issues… Was this a school district decision or just something they implemented in your particular school? Or was it your coach? I’m assuming that it isn’t a cost issue.
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That’s a good point. What happened to make pneumatics banned?
Assuming it isn’t a cost issue the only other reason I can see is that the school thinks pneumatics are too dangerous.
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Maybe the school considered the risk of the tank having the slight chance to explode if too much pressure is put into it?
Keep in mind, though, last time I checked, the tanks were rated for something like 250 psi, which is way above the 100 psi VRC competitors are allowed
The cylinders are only rated for 100 psi.
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Surely their safety factor will allow for this? It’s not like VEX pneumatics are rockets where safety factors need to be as low as possible.
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The cylinders are rated for a certain PSI, but can withstand significantly more than what they are rated for. Its not going to explode(probably). It is still a bad idea to fill them over their rated limit.
No its not like its millions of dollars that could expload, but it still is your eye, finger, hair getting possiblby injured.
Saftey rules exist for a reason, rating on parts exist for a reason. And if you want to “learn by doing” be my guest 
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