Now comes the larger and more complex bumpers. Actually, they are not really that different, just a couple areas I left to do tomorrow when I am more awake and my hands not so tired! Stapling can do that to you!
Sounds simple, but they are made to change from blue to red and back and forth. Perhaps the next photos will show what I mean. In the photo to the left showing the red, the red fabric is stapled to the rear of the wood frame with rough velcro stapled on the top of the frame. Soft velcro is stitched to the bottom of the red and blue which are back to back, sewn together through the middle horizontally where the indentation is you see in the photo. Likewise, the rough velcro is stapled to the bottom of the wood frame after the bottom of the blue fabric is stretched to the back of the frame and stapled to secure it. Have I lost you yet??? So, in the picture of the red, if you took the velcro bottom and folded it up to the top, the blue would be visible, no longer the red. If you want the red to be visible, you take the velcro on the bottom of the red, wrap it under the frame and connect it to the rough velcro shown on the blue stapled to the frame. Now the blue is “hidden”.
These two photos show the problematic areas. The one on the left, I have folded the underneath temporarily over the noodles cut at an angle and stapled it to the frame. The ends waving at you are parts that need to be free for changing the colors. I will probably cut them so they are even with the noodles and will lay flat against the unit with the color change. Same with the extension in the photo on the right where the ends are sticking beyond the frame. I believe the same alteration will work there. The peak at the 90 degree angle I solved in the past by cutting a wedge wide enough coming to a dull point at the top of the noodle and the fabric then lays flat and alternates colors nicely. So, in the morning I will fix the wavers and peaks, whip out the last frame cover and return them to the school. Hopefully, they will have a successful season of competing, but more important is the education they have gained in the experience of building the robot!
