In a previous competition that my first year vex team went to, we were told that our robot needed to have vex official rubber bands. I didn’t see anything in the game manual that said that official vex rubber bands were needed and I see plenty of robots on the internet that don’t have vex rubber bands, so can anyone confirm this? Is there not any commercially sold rubber bands that can pass as vex rubber bands because I find it somewhat absurd that we can’t have commercially sold rubber bands.
As one as the rubber bands are #32 or #64 in size, then you should be fine. You can tell the judges this, and bring the box that the bands came in for safe measures.
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This is probably the reason then because I was using a completely different size due to the fact that the #32 and #64 kept on breaking for me.
Yeah that is why. You must use that size
My recommendation are alliance #64 bands, which are fairly durable.
Does anyone have experience with these bands. I found them on amazon and their price is amazing. You get ~960 bands for about 10 bux.
Amazon link
They don’t appear to be non-latex. While you are not required to have non-latex, I highly recommend it. They will retain their stretch longer, and will be less affected by leaving them exposed to air. Here is a thread I started a while back about which variety. Be sure not to revive it by replying. As far as legality, the exact material doesn’t matter, it’s just the size, which has to be #64 or #32.
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I have number 64 elastics from when I used to do newspapers. They appear to be identical except for color as the vex ones. In fact the texture and there elasticity felt almost identical.
If youa re at a tournament, simply show them < R8 > and note b. Only the length and thickness is important.
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what game manual is this? R8 on the tower takeover manual has details about the radio.
That’s the vex IQ manual, but there is an equivalent statement in the tower takeover manual.
Would you mind directing me to the specific part of the tower takeover manual where this is found just for future reference?
<R4>
< R4 > does not say that rubber bands that aren’t vex can be used.
You’re right that my post was for IQ. I can’t find the equivalent rule for VRC. The phrase for rubber band can only be found here in < R4 >.
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Funny enough, there is no mention of legal rubberbands in the game manual. The only time the term “rubber band” is even mentioned is in (which has nothing to do with their legaility):
A quick check of the QnA yielded no answers about the rule of this as well. Even the Turning Point manual said nothing on this; my best guess is that this would be covered by , but that’s as close as it gets:
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So part d there is different from the IQ rule… It has to be materially the same as the VEX product. The IQ rule is only for size, not material… interesting…
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“It’s not illegal, it’s just an aluminum rubber band”
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R7> Robots are allowed the following additional “non-VEX” components:
b. Any parts which are identical to legal VEX parts. For the purposes of this rule, products which are identical in all ways except for color are permissible. It is up to inspectors to determine whether a component is “identical” to an official VEX component.
https://www.robotevents.com/VRC/2018-2019/QA/82 So, if you had rubber bands that were identical in size and material to VEX rubber bands, but were a different color, these would be legal.
Granted, this was a Turning Point Q&A so it doesn’t technically transfer over - however, since the concept and wording is identical, and it is the same stance taken in prior years, I would see no reason to not accept any 32 or 64 rubber band of the same general material.
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i have bought like a box of 500 and they r thew same so there is no way for me to get caught i would recomend this as vex is way overpriced
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This implies that you are deliberately doing something known to be wrong & trying to get away with it, which would be against the Vex Code of Conduct. Better to say you are confident in your understanding of the rules, which do, in fact, indicate that you are allowed to purchase specific non-Vex parts within their guidelines (including rubber bands of specific sizes).
A general reminder to all - just because you aren’t likely to get caught doesn’t make doing something you know to be Vex illegal ok…
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