Hi, I was wondering where teams obtain multiple pneumatics tanks for their robot. Many teams in the past have used upwards of 2 or 3 tanks but the kits only come with one tank. I read in another thread that you could buy additional (identical) pneumatics parts from sites like SMC and PLCcenter (https://vexforum.com/t/pneumatics/21576/1) but I don’t know of any team that actually bought from them before. Is this where you guys get your pneumatic tanks? If not, then what’s a better option?
Tank: http://www.plccenter.com/en-US/Buy/SMC/US14227S0400
You will also need to buy fittings for the tank: http://www.plccenter.com/en-US/Buy/SMC/KQ2H0334S
Those were the best prices we could find. PLCCenter also has all of the non-vex parts (i.e. those that were outsourced, including gyros, pneumatics).
We just bought this last weekend and are waiting for it to ship in.
For the fittings, you had to buy 10 of them as a minimum order? Does PLC also have pneumatic tubing? How much was the cost for shipping and any processing fees and how long do you think it would take to arrive?
No, we purchased 2.
Yes, http://www.plccenter.com/en-US/Buy/SMC/TU0425BX81US1696
Our cost was $10, we ordered $100 worth of parts. One thing I forgot to mention: there is a minimum order fee of $50. This means you HAVE to purchase $50 worth of parts (other wise you have to pay the difference and one way or another, you’re going to be spending $50, excluding shipping).
Is that the pneumatic tubing that VEX sells? Hmm, I guess it must be a good place to buy pneumatics stuff, the prices are pretty good. Thanks for letting me know about the minimum order as well as all the info in general. Anyone else have any other good information to add?
That is the same tubing that VEX gives you. (same part number)
Also, it is important to note that the order could take up to 4 weeks to deliver, so you should make sure you order it with adequate amount of time.
Are you aware of how much tubing is in the plc link you gave? It doesnt show and it is difficult to tell from the picture.
It was several meters, if i remember correctly. The picture looks a bit misleading, but I can’t remember if that’s exactly what we purchased -there might be a different item that was same tubing but longer length. I might be tempted to look, but it shouldn’t be difficult to figure it out. Regardless, I remember it being more cost-effective to get tubing from PLC than via VEX.
Just for reference my team purchased about 8 tanks from Plccenter this year.
Its amazing. My D team uses them for weight on chassis and its a nice convenience to not have to think about them anymore. Something like 25 each with fittings and stuff so we only dropped 200 on it and that is 1 less thing to worry about.
We get all our pneumatics from SMC, as well as 323Z. Never had any trouble that I am aware of.
https://vexforum.com/t/pneumatics-questions/24181/1#5
I have a .pdf document of all the parts that can be used for VEX. We (323Z, 323X) receive our pneumatics from SMC (they are a sponsor). If your looking for individual parts, PLC Center is the way to go, but if you want to buy a whole kit, just get it from VEX.
We have had no problems with our pneumatics!
About 67" of tubing per bundle. Plenty 