Mechanical, Build & PneumaticsModule 10 of 12

Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

Every team rediscovers the same painful bugs. This module is a field-tested triage manual for the mechanical, build, and pneumatics failures that eat practice time and lose matches: drivetrains that veer, gearboxes that grenade, pneumatics that won't fire, fasteners that vibrate loose, and closed-loop mechanisms that oscillate. Each lesson gives you the symptom, the most likely root causes ranked, a concrete diagnostic workflow, and the fix, grounded in real CTRE/REV/WPILib behavior and community-documented failure modes. Learn to debug like a veteran: change one variable at a time, read the actual data, and confirm the fix before moving on.

Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting is module 10 of 12 in the Mechanical, Build & Pneumatics guide. It picks up where Worked Examples & Mini-Projects left off and hands over to Advanced Techniques & Case Studies. Its 5 lessons are about 128 minutes of the guide's ~21 hours.

5 lessons~128 min47 lessons in this guide

Start with lesson 1 All of Mechanical, Build & Pneumatics

In this module

5 lessons

01Pneumatics Won't Fire: A Full Diagnostic TreeWalk the exact order to debug a dead solenoid: CAN IDs, code enable, wiring, air pressure, and leaks, using CTRE PCM / REV PH behavior.25 min read

02The Robot Won't Drive Straight (and Other Drivetrain Sins)Diagnose veering, scrub, and inconsistent drive: mismatched feedforward, toed modules/wheels, uneven friction, and tread/encoder issues.26 min read

03Gearboxes That Grenade and Fasteners That Vibrate LoosePrevent stripped gears, bent mounting plates, sheared shafts, and loose hardware: shock-load math, plate stiffness, set-screw failures, and threadlocker.27 min read

04Closed-Loop Mechanisms That Oscillate, Sag, or StallFix arms/elevators that buzz, droop, or slam: wrong tuning order, missing gravity term, encoder phase/conversion errors, and bad motion constraints.26 min read

05Field-Ready Reliability: Inspection, Spares, and the Pit ChecklistTurn a working robot into a reliable one: failure-mode triage, a pre-match pit checklist, spare-parts kit, and CAN/wiring habits that prevent dead modules.24 min read

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