Having been through the experience building the game elements for the 2008 FTC Game, Face Off, I thought I’d share my experiences and provide some tips to help folks build all or part of the game elements for this year!
Gathering the Raw Materials
I purchased my materials from a variety of stores; Tap Plastics, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, and McMaster-Carr.
At Tap Plastic, I had them cut to size all the pieces I needed to build the field. It ended up costing around $80, and they cut it while I waited. I drilled all the holes myself.
At Ace Hardware, I picked up the 4″ PVC drain pipe and PVC end caps. It is important to make sure you get the right material, or the end caps will NOT fit. The 4″ PVC is NOT Schedule 40. It is solid white, not the black w/ white wrapping.
At Lowe’s, I picked up most of the lumber. The 3/4″ MDF at my Lowe’s only came in 4’x8′ sheets. I had them cut the 3/4″ MDF to 3’x3′ for me, paying for the extra cuts. My car is too small to hold an 8′ long board. I found most of the screws/bolts/nuts from the BOM at Lowe’s.
At Home Depot, I picked up the 3/4″ x 3/4″ poplar strips. I was able to find the remainder of the screws/bolts/nuts, except for the unusual ones. Home Depot is also where I found the Palram Suntop roofing that is used for the wavy strips. It is also the only source for Behr paints.
McMaster-Carr was my source for the unusual screws called for in the BOM, particularly the truss-head screws. I also ordered the asymetrical brackets and the spring hinges. The spring hinges I bought were on sale for about $4 each. I could not find a local source for less than $15 each.
Building the assemblies
I don’t have a fancy set of tools. Everything had to be able to be done with a chop saw, a circular saw, a jig saw, a drill, and a Dremel rotary tool.
Puck Racks
I cut the 1″x2″ boards to length, clamped them together, and made a series of parallel cuts with my circular saw to define the notch that will go over the upper edge of the field wall. I used a wood chisel to clean out the notch. I used a jig saw with a coarse blade to make the cut in the lower end of the board that slips over the lip of the lower edge of the field wall.
For the PVC portion of the puck dumpers, I made a simple paper template of the hole pattern, marked, and then drilled all the end cap holes. I marked the “cut line” on the template and transfered it to the end caps as well. After gluing the caps onto the 4″ PVC, I used a Dremel rotary tool, equipped with a 1 1/4″ saw blade to cut the tubes in half.
Rumble Strips
The rumble strip assembly was pretty straight forward. I used a chop saw to cut the 3/4″ PVC to length. I cut the 1/4-20 threaded rod using my Dremel rotary tool. I cleaned up the threads. I used a couple of 1/4-20 nuts jammed together to give me a grip to get the nylock nuts onto the rod.
Take care to adjust the nuts so that the PVC in the rumble strips can rotate freely.
Wavy Strips
It is important to use the “recommended” material for the wavy strips. The other roofing materials are more/less flexible and have a different surface finish. I found the Palram Suntop roofing at Home Depot in my area. FIRST is working on a means to supply teams that cannot find it in their area.
I used a circular saw to make the “cross cuts” (perpedicular to the ripples). It chipped the material slightly. A jigsaw might yield a smoother cut. I used a utility knife and a straight edge to make the “rip cuts” (parallel to the ripples). The material cut quickly and easily.
Center Goal
I used my circular saw with the blade tipped to 45 degrees to put the bevel on the board. I “undercut” the edges, i.e. had the saw on the bottom side of the platform with the saw blade slanting towards the center of the board. I pre-painted the base board before beginning assembly.
The center goal required the most “fine tuning” of the pieces before I could finish assembling it.
For the round cylinder, I assembled the polycarbonate portion, and used it as a template to mark of the areas of my 2′ round platform that needed to be “tuned”. I used a belt sander to adjust the diameter of my platform until I got a snug fit.
After getting the round platform fitted, I attached the asymetrical brackets and marked the placement of the holes for the screws that go through the brackets into the base. Due to the shape of the brackets, I found that I had to remove the brackets and put the screws through the short leg of the bracket (into the base) and then attach the brackets back to the polycarb cylinder. In hindsight, if the brackets were reversed, it would not be nessecary to remove them. I.e., put the short leg of the bracket against the polycarb.
Before attempting to put the platform into the cylinder, I checked to make sure the triangular portion of the goal would fit. I found that I needed to increase the size of the whole slightly using a jigsaw before I could get the trianglur portion to slide through the platform.
Once the cylinder was in place and I was sure the triangular portion would fit, I mounted the round platform inside the cylinder, using the holes in the cylinder as templates to pre-drill for the screws.
I followed this by sliding the triangular port of the center goal through the platform and screwing it to the base. Make sure to attach the brackets before you slide the triangular portion in; you will NOT be able to reach both screw and nut once the piece is in place.
I learned from my experiences with the cylinder and reversed the mounting of the asymetrical bracket.
Once the polycarbonate portions of the goal are screwed in place, the entire goal can be moved quite easily.
Platform & Ramps
Coming soon
The Paint
The paint as specified in the BOM is only available at Home Depot. In my area, Home Depot only sells the Porch and Floor paint in gallons. If you don’t want to buy a gallon, I would suggest getting a set of the paint color chips from Home Depot for the specified colors and having them matched into a paint that you can buy in quarts.
Finding Pucks
All of the sources I found for pucks were expensive (more than $2 per puck). One place I found (Skatebuys) had them for $2.05 each. FIRST is working on a bulk purchase of pucks that should be significantly less expenses.
They will be available soon, as part of the options related to purchasing field element kits.
Field Element Kits
FIRST is working on putting together kits that will contain a portion of the pieces needed to build the game elements for the Face Off game. There will be options on how much is purchased. Details on the kits and options should be getting released soon.