The non-post corners on pages 10 & 31 show the old corner gussets. Page 12 with the hanging bar shows no corner gusset of the new style and the old style on the bottom with the pipe holder in place of a top corner gusset. Would the new competition corner gusset fit?
Reading the updated assembly instructions, the field perimeters now require the old corner gusset either on top or bottom. I suspect there was deformation of field with repeated robot contacts to the wall (bent new style corner gussets mounted on the side. This reinforcement makes sense, but will be an added step for assembly. I had to hunt down my old ones
If this is the case then the new corner brackets seems to be useless. The only benefit of using them was that the field assembly was much easier. If we are now supposed to use a combination of each…then why even use them at all?
This way the top corner bracket will not interfere with play at all, and bottom corner bracket can add stability. The new corner bracket is still necessary as the bottom bracket alone would not be sufficient to keep the corner robust.
Yea, it just sucks that the corner ones alone aren’t enough. To me, the whole point of the new corner brackets was to save time because the top and bottom brackets are terrible to take on and off when setting up for competitions/practice. Not the end of the world, but when putting up and taking down 8 fields for competitions it is a pretty big pain.
We didn’t have any issues with the new ones bending, did anyone else? Seemed perfectly strong enough to so the job last year.
Although putting on an old top one doesn’t take too long, it’s the bottoms that are annoying.
I don’t know if it was like it since the very beginning, but when I looked at the brackets some time last year it said then that they were only in addition to one of the old gussets. Which makes sense based on the strengths of the new angles and the old gussets.
And because $40 isn’t cheap for the brackets, it’s super easy to make ones with 1x1" angle and drill a few holes.
I think it is an overly sweeping statement to say they are “useless”. They have and continue to speed field assembly and allow for interesting new field elements, such as the pole for lifting in Starstruck. The need for an additional corner plate is probably to provide strong structural support in extreme situations.
As an event partner, I welcome all modifications to assure that events run smoothly. I would loath to have to deal with a structural failure at any point during an event.
Which document are you seeing this in? We’re looking into this and working to make sure that we have consistent and accurate instructions across our documentation.
I think it’s important to understand that the (triangular) gussets are necessary to keep the field within the specification of the game. The corner brackets were introduced because the NBN nets couldn’t fit into their position with the top gusset in place. The bottom gusset kept the field square and the corner bracket added the necessary strength.
While it is inconvenient to mount the bottom gusset we need to remember that our teams depend on the fields being within specifications (for the whole event) and only using the corner bracket doesn’t ensure that to be true.
I honestly hadn’t thought about the fact that using only the angle brackets doesn’t ensure that the field is square. I feel stupid for not realizing such a simple thing…
I am assuming that use of the top corner gusset is required. I just dismantled the field for the summer and when we rebuild in fall I want to make sure I am doing it correctly.
