Pneumatics - what to order and NOT

#1

Hi all,
Just a bit of advice to all on the new pneumatics parts that Makeblock now offer. Don’t buy any of the white Silicone Air Tubes. They are not compatible with the other parts, so it’ll just end up in your trash bin. I ordered 3 of each and can now just throw it while waiting weeks (yet again) to get the proper parts.

What you actually want is the blue Pneumatic tubes and some reduction links from 4mm to 6mm and such.

Since these tubes don’t fit into the 4/6mm fittings, they should not be sold in my opinion. It’s also sad to see that MB is basically just repackaging stuff that you can get cheaper from Banggood/DX/Aliexpress, when there’s not even a single bracket or any holes that interconnect Makeblock with the Pneumatic parts. By no means the quality I expected from MB.

I find it a bit disturbing that now that MB now have many more of employees, that they still don’t manage to deliver even basic information like this on what to order. This was much better about a year ago. The amount of Engrish on the site just keeps growing and obvious errors (like images missing) in tutorials go unnoticed. Not a good sign at all, but I hope that @makeblock’s Mr. Jasen knows about this so he can fix it…

#2

Hi Jenschr,
Thanks for your information.
The white Silicone Air Tube you bought is with 3mm inner diameter and 5mm outer diameter which is actually for Makeblock vacuum suction cup connector holder and Makeblock air pump motor instead of the Pneumatic components. The tube you are looking for should be the one with 6mm of external diameter and 4mm of inner diameter which is compatible with the Makeblock Pneumatic components. Here attached the URL FYI. http://www.makeblock.cc/2m-6-pneumatic-tube-blue/.
Please kindly check and let’s know if this is correct.

Besides, as to the products information, we really appreciate your notification. We realized the issue as well and are working on improving now.

Any more issues, please feel free to contact us.

#3

Hi Blair,
Regarding the suction cup, that is correct, but when I purchased this there was no pneumatic tube available. The only available tube was the silicone tubes, so that’s what I purchased. I see that the descriptions have since been updated.

It is also quite incorrect to say that I should rather buy the 6mm tube? Most of the fittings use a 4mm tube (http://www.makeblock.cc/search.php?search_query=φ4) so that would not have worked very well? Anyway - I have now ordered both 6mm and 4mm tubing as well as some other parts. It just annoyed me that this wasn’t clear. It’s not fun to finally sit down to play with pneumatics - just to realise you don’t have the required parts :confused:

I’m still disappointed in how this is just re-selling the same pneumatic components that one can buy from other vendors. I can get similar solenoid valves for 4-6 times less. At such a premium, I would expect to get parts that fit well with the Makeblock system, not just normal pneumatic parts with no M4 screw holes. The cool thing with Makeblock is that all the parts fit together as in a system. The pneumatic parts are now just thrown into the mix because people (like me) want them. They have no integration with the system.

#4

So - I finally got all the parts required to start playing with Pneumatics. My conclusion is that this is not very well thought through. Here’s my problems with what Makeblock is offering:

  1. Weak pumps. The two air pumps being sold, can barely actuate the two double acting cylinders that are on sale. The Single acting one has such a strong spring that it can’t be actuated at all. A better + stronger pump should be offered.

  2. The 3/2 solenoid valve is sold for 2-4 times the normal price on Ebay. It can only drive the Single acting cylinders. Makeblock should offer a 5/2 solenoid or stop selling the double acting cylinders.

  3. The bracket that can attach the solenoid valve to other Makeblock parts (pictured here http://www.makeblock.cc/solenoid-valve-3-2way/) are not on sale. This means that there’s basically NO smart way to attach these to your robot.

The entire Makeblock system is really well thought out and I really like it. I don’t mind paying a little extra if I’m getting parts that fit well with the rest of the system. The way it stands now, I think Makeblock should remove the Pneumatic parts until there’s at least a single mounting bracket available…

#5