Field Construction tips and supplies
Henry M. Bass
Team 4924 in Blacksburg/Christiansburg Virginia has just built its field for the exciting new Bowled Over game! We’re a first year team, but staffed with FLL veterans and working under FRC Team 401.
First off, a supplier for the crates: We found a huge supply of $1 crates, the exact right size, at Walmart near the office supplies area. They’re made by sterilite, and are sold as CD/DVD cartons. They have the same holes and all dimensions as the official spec. The bad news: colors are Black, Red, and Blue. But it’s a buck! And if you’re not planning some color-recognition thing on your crate detection, you can buy red ones & blue ones to indicate alliance affiliation (instead of white crates with red or blue tape, per the game specifications). Better hurry, though. Looks like WalMart is getting rid of these. Ours in Christiansburg had a big end-aisle display, so buying 12 barely put a dent in their supply.
We have available at half our cost the following supplies.
Official “mickey’s pants” (red) Behr Premium Plus semi-gloss paint: we bought 1 gallon, used less than a third of it. Original cost $28.
Official “Midnight blue ball” (blue) Behr Premium Plus semi-gloss paint: we bought 1 gallon, used less than a third of it. Original cost $28.
Box of 2.5” #8 wood screws, 1/3 used for ramp assembly. Original cost $8
So the fact that we used a 1/3 of a gallon means that if you’re buying a quart for your own field, use it sparingly, or put a primer coat on first. We did 2 coats of paint on all exposed surfaces, 1 coat on the undersides.
Construction tip: don’t mess with the Velcro for attaching the Lauan plywood on the sides. Just put 2 drywall screws in it and call it done. Besides, the directions say to do all the Velcro, then at the end, suggest two drywall screws to anchor in place. Function is to keep racquetballs from hiding under the ramp, or keep you from planning to run your robot under the ramp!
We look forward to communicating with any FTC teams in Southwest Virginia!
Henry M. Bass, President
Automation Creations, Inc.
2020 Kraft Drive, Suite 3000
Blacksburg, VA 24060-6354
ph (540) 552-7670 ext. 3101
cell (540) 320-1590
fax (540) 552-1657
www.ACIwebs.com
paul lathrop
All good and true info. Walmart has them on clearance so teams buy
them now if you want them. Also, consider a community field: have a
few teams pitch in and spilt the cost.
On Oct 27, 10:39 am, "Henry M. Bass" <henry.b...@aciwebs.com> wrote:
> Team 4924 in Blacksburg/Christiansburg Virginia has just built its field
> for the exciting new Bowled Over game! We're a first year team, but
>
> First off, a supplier for the crates: We found a hugpitcg e supply of $1