Hello all,
This past Monday my team finally got around to mounting the pneumatic system on our robot. We ended up using zip-ties to secure the master switch, pressure regulator, and solenoid. I was just wondering what other teams have done to mount these parts.
Thanks,
Nathan
My team used the cross-bar (officially known as a Plus Gusset: http://www.vexrobotics.com/products/accessories/structure/plus-gusset.html)
We bent two of the tines on opposite sides, and then cut off the other two, slid it onto the end of the piston, and then you can screw it into anything… Or attach it too a axle, or metal, or just about anything…
Hope that helps! If it doesn’t, in a few days, I can probably post a picture of it…
I like to mount my pressure regulator, switch, and bike pump value so that they are sticking out of the back bumper of the robot (2.5’’ wide C channel in this case). This way they are easily accessible when I need to recharge my pneumatics system between matches. The only downside to this is that you have to drill holes (all of which different sizes) in your metal/aluminum.
Good Luck.
I was going to suggest the same thing as “Titan”.
The air intake valve and regulator both come with a mounting nut so all you have to do is drill or file a hole into a VEX metal part to mount them. As for the master switch and the “t” connector - they have mounting holes which are exactly the size of a 8-32 VEX screw.
I don’t know which pnuematics kit you have, but the solenoid valves in the double-acting kit have a base plate with mounting holes. The holes are the size of a 6-32 VEX screw. Unfortunitely, there aren’t any VEX nuts for the 6-32 screws! If you are very careful though, you could try drilling or filing out the holes to fit 8-32 screws.
For the air reservoir - I was thinking of making some mounting brackets out of VEX metal. The air reservoir has mounting nuts on each end, but the hard part is cutting out the holes in the metal parts to mount it. I haven’t tried this yet because I can’t decide which way would be the best way to mount it. I could use pieces of plate, angle, or channel.
Hope these ideas will also help you out. Let us know what you finally come up with - it might help someone else out
The brass inserts in the rack gears are threaded for #6-32. You could cut a rack up to get 3 competition legal #6-32 nuts. Or if space allows it, you could use the whole rack uncut as a nut.
Cheers,
To mount the pneumatic tanks, I use cable ties around them attached to whatever metal is convenient. As for the solenoids, I cabletie them to a piece of metal.
This was so much help, Thank you