Quick question, is cutting the threads off of pneumatic pistons legal? I know that this may break the R20 rule. I’m question if this applies to the rule because it doesn’t change the geometry of the stroke of the pneumatic piston.
I cut the threads off because they got bent compared to the rod of the piston and this was the last pneumatic I had. There is still exposed rod at the tip when the pneumatic is fully retracted. The image below shows the piston in the fully retracted state.
First, regarding terminology, please see this post: If we're going to call an air cylinder a "pneumatic" then we should call V5 motors "electrics"!
Next, cutting the piston rod of the air cylinder is a clear violation of R20. There are no exceptions given in the rule for what particular modification is not allowed: no modifications of any type are allowed to either the air cylinder or any other pneumatic component. WIth VEX and SMC out of stock, you’ll need to look to radwell.com to purchase additional air cylinders.
In general, air cylinders (and hydraulic cylinders, too), need to be used with a pivot joint at each end, so that the loading of the cylinder is ONLY axial. Any side loading, especially to these little small-bore cylinders, will ruin the cylinder by bending the piston rod. On large cylinders, side loading ruins the head-end packing making them leak. This season has been especially rough on air cylinders as teams are trying to use the cylinder rod itself as the release for string launchers, rather than building a pneumatically-actuated release mechanism that treats the air cylinder nicely.
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