Would the sleds made out of pvc be stable enough to not snap if they are connected to each other by standoffs. The sleds would be relatively short with two on each side of the chassis. I am asking because doing plexi glass wouldn’t be and option.
Robot rules in Game Manual specify what is legal plastic. I would recommend you quote specific rule you are concerned with in the Game Manual.
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Is PVC a legal plastic? I do not see it in the list of legal plastic types.
However, as for whether or not, that depends a little bit on your design (how far the sled protrude, how high/low they are, speed of impact, etc.). However, feel free to experiment and try it yourself! (Would make a great addition to your engineering notebook!)
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Pretty sure that PVC is not legal in VRC
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Btw I am talking about pvc sheets not pipes cuz those are illegal
It’s not the shape necessaily, but the material.
PVC doesn’t seem to be a legal VRC material, even if it is a legal thickness.
Doesn’t matter, unfortunately. The types of materials that are legal are explicitly laid out in the game manual, and PVC is not one of them.
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Also, the game manual prohibits shattering plastics and I have seen PVC pipes brake into large sharp chunks when hit. That sound a lot like a shattering plastic so it would probably put on the prohibited list if you asked for clarification in the game manual.
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Is PVC actually a shattering plastic though in most instances? The field is mostly made out of PVC, and I don’t see too many of the pipes shattering into pieces.
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While the field is made of PVC, a strong brittle plastic, rules state that intentionally damaging the field is a violation. In any case, if the rules specify certain plastics, and PVC is not one of them, you cannot use PVC. PVC was most likely not included since it is a shattering plastic, and if broken will be sharp and potentially dangerous. Unfortunate, but true.
The list of legal plastics in the game manual is not exhaustive. Here’s the rule:
A limited amount of custom plastic is allowed.Robots may use custom-made parts cut from certain types of non-shattering plastic. It must be possible to have cut all of the plastic parts on the Robot from a single 12” x 24” sheet, up to 0.070” thick.
d. Legal plastic types include polycarbonate (Lexan), acetal monopolymer (Delrin), acetal copolymer (Acetron GP), POM (acetal), ABS, PEEK, PET, HDPE, LDPE, Nylon (all grades), Polypropylene, and FEP.
e. Shattering plastic, such as PMMA (also called Plexiglass, Acrylic, or Perspex), is prohibited.
Note that R18 d says that the list of legal plastic types includes the listed types. It is not an exhaustive list, and there are other non shattering plastics which are legal for use while not being in that list. Thus, the question for us becomes whether PVC can be considered a non-shattering plastic. Given the subjective nature of this question (what “shattering” means isn’t strong defined), a Q&A asking if PVC is legal is likely the best course of action here.
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My mistake, I guess it’s clear this is a QnA question for this sort of thing. From personal experience PVC piping cracks and creates sharp shards so my guess would be it’s shattering but definitely ask the QnA
If this is about a different region I can understand what you guys are talking about. However, here in the U.S PMMA is perfectly fine. Plexiglass is allowed in instances. Surprisingly
enough >_>. But anyway. 9/10 of the expert robots have loads of plexiglass on them
*like ours * . Besides, I’ve never seen PMMA brake. I’ve even tested it with a knife, bent it, heated it. Only heat will melt it, but it will take forever…
PMMA aka Acrylic aka Plexiglass is explicitly disallowed by R18e.
e. Shattering plastic, such as PMMA (also called Plexiglass, Acrylic, or Perspex), is prohibited.
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I don’t think PVC is legal. My team used the polycarb at first, but it fell off / broke a lot.
We eventually had the idea to cut flex wheel weights into corners, and those worked perfectly, as they had perfect circular surfaces and were made of cast iron. They’re extremely good for sleds.
yea I don’t think so either. If not listed, then most likely not allowed.
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