Bumpers
 

Our team is looking for ideas on how to attach our bumpers to the robot and were wondering if any other teams had some good ideas that allow for quick and easy placement and removal.

Thanks in advance,

Lord Arion

Re: Bumpers
 

Quite a bit depends upon the structure of your frame. are you using the C-channel from the kit bot?

Re: Bumpers
 

We are trying a new method this year of using carriage bolts and wing nuts through aluminum angle mounted to the chassis. Not done yet, but it looks like it is going to work well! Good luck!

Re: Bumpers
 

Just bear in mind that they need to be able to be taken off and on quickly. We had that method last year (If I understand you correctly) and it was painful physically and figuratively

Re: Bumpers
 

In the past, we have had vertical pieces of 80/20 on the corners of the robot. We would put screws into the back of the plywood, leaving the heads exposed in order to slide down the raceway of the extrusion stock. It is admittedly a pain to get right at first, but they slide off so easily that I definitely feel that the effort up front is worth it in the end.

Re: Bumpers
 

We have used quick release pins on our bumpers for the last two years and really like them. A quick Google Image search will show you what I mean. We put an aluminum angle bracket, permanently attached to the bumper, on the top and bottom of a frame rail and drop the pin straight through (2 per bumper). The brackets take up all the up/down forces, while the shear strength of the pin holds the bumpers on. So the bumper mount is invincible, but they go on and off in a matter of seconds.

And I can't quite figure out how something can be figuratively painful...

Re: Bumpers
 

We fabricated a piece of channel that slides over the simple chassis channel. drilled a hole that matches the hole in the simple chassis & secured them with quick release pins. You can get the pins at Grainger, McMaster Carr, MSC, ETC

Re: Bumpers
 

What kind of quick release did you use was it one of the "D" ring quick release or was it a butterfly pin holding it in place? :ahh:

Re: Bumpers
 

They look pretty much exactly like this.