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5. Pneumatic System Mounting

Pneumatic system mounting brackets for Vex Robotics Software used: Fusion 360 Ultimate, Student (version 2.0.3800)   Why did we design this part: When the 2017-2018 Vex Robotics game In The Zone was released we felt that pneumatics would be an important role in our robots design. We spent months developing different intakes for various game elements using pneumatics and we quickly realized that there isn’t a great solution for attaching various pneumatic components to a robot; teams have used zip ties and custom cut brackets in the past but we felt like we could design a more elegant solution. What is it: The mounting brackets for the Vex Robotics pneumatic system consist of plastic parts designed to screw onto a robot and hold on what we think are the most crucial components; the Reservoir, Solenoid and Manual On/Off switch.   How do they work: Reservoir - The Reservoir mounting system consists of a brackets on either side that slides on to the threaded ends, once on the Reservoir you can secure it to a robot with four 1.5 inch screws. The Reservoir requires a space on 15 holes x 3 holes to be attached. Manual On/Off Switch - The Manual On/Off Switch bracket consist of one box shaped part that is attached to the robot with two screws; after attaching the bracket, the On/Off Switch then slides into the brackets and is secured by sliding two screws through the assembly (this design utilizes two existing holes on the Switch.) The On/Off Switch bracket requires a space of 1 hole x 2 holes to be attached. Solenoid - The Solenoid bracket consists of a clip like part that is attached to a robot using two screws. After the bracket is attached, you remove the fittings from the Solenoid and snap it into the clip, once the Solenoid is in place you can replace the fittings and the solenoid won’t move around. The Solenoid bracket requires a space of 1 hole x 2 holes to be attached. Using Fusion 360: We used Fusion 360 to model our parts for this years challenge. When working on the first iterations of these parts we used calipers to take measurements off of the physical Pneumatics parts. We did test prints of different versions of the parts to help refine out design process and Eventually came to what is our final design. When working on the final design, we imported the files of the Pneumatic components into Fusion. This allowed us to pull precise measurements off of the parts and model around them to insure accurate dimensions and clearances. The final models include rounded edges using the fillet tool as well as countersunk screw holes to keep a low profile. What we learned: While completing this project, our teammates that used Fusion learned how to use new features and become more efficient at using the software. Tools like Shell  made it easy to create cutouts for components to fit in and learning new ways of joining parts together in assemblies helped us to better model our robot. (we keep a model of our robot in fusion in order to test new ideas before actually building them.) We used Fusion 360 Ultimate, Student (version 2.0.3800) Make it real: We printed out all of these parts and test fitted them by attaching the components to 1x5x1x35 channels, they work very well and hold the parts in securely and remove the need to use zip ties when adding the pneumatic components. We have found the parts to be very useful and would use them on our robot if legal, they solve a problem in an elegant way without getting in the way of the pneumatic functions or other mechanisms.