Can you heat a co2 ram ?

[leorcc]

quote:

ok no heater,do you think this rule will ever be changed.

I doubt it. Unless there is a proposal from FRA members to change this rule, put forward to the FRA reps, and voted on in a FRA meeting.

quote:

I will take off the radio switch/relay,is it ok to defrost the ram between fights on the bench??

I think that is up to the Event Organisers wether they allow it or not, but I dont really see a problem in it. I assume you are not heating it to absurd temperatures I hope? The Plastic inside the ram can melt you know.

[andrewmahoney]

Better get welding then! I seem to have a few split welds after meeting little spinnerat the last event oh and trying to activate the flipper in the last fight with the safty bar in.
And no Mario,it doesnt do toast.
Are there any rules about injecting de-icer in to the bottom of the cylinder on the up stroke of the ram?i recon i can make it work.

[leorcc]

Well I tried to flip the Robotslive arena with H3 that didnt work so well either.

You know we did have some icing in H2, but never that much that it got a real problem. We did XFM without much icing problems at all, apart from the bottle itself of course.

Have you checked that your liquid stopper is still in place? Its between the bottle and the buffertank, straight behind the part where you screw the bottle in.

[woody]

I believe that Leo is refering to something like this.
http://www.univer.com.au/breather-vents-2941.htmhttp://www.univer.com.au/breather-vents-2941.htm

[andrewmahoney]

I can check,i haven,t messed with any part of the system other than the heater.I will look an report back!

[mute]

We used to inject a few ccs of car radiator anti-freeze (the thick blue stuff) into our gas system before a fight with Mute. Not sure if helped that much but it seemed to keep the rams lubed up for the first flip or two. Always worth a try but make sure its none flamable in case it goes pop under compression or something.

[andrewmahoney]

Hi Daniel,
I was thinking more of injecting in to the bottom of the cylinder under the piston im gessing thats where the ice is.I think there is a hole in the bottom of the ram to let the expanded gas out.A radio switch or micro switch connected to the flipper arm could triger a measured amount of something to ease the return of the piston.
I think Mario said the piston is hdpe with an o ring,so i would want to do a test on another o ring to make sure it does not damage it.Maybe all i need is a little lubricant? im not sure if aluminium and o rings need maintenance.... Mario?

[kane]

I wouldnt recommend putting antifreeze in the system.

1. Its toxic and would leave a toxic vapour in the arena.
2. It doesnt work down to the temperatures CO2 gets to and it will freeze.

[mute]

The neat anti-freeze we used was good for -35°C, although we used it in very small quantities - about 0.5 litres in 3 years. Didnt seem like a bad idea back when we did it but thinking about it now, yes it is toxic.

[kane]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxideCO2