pic: Spectrum Sheet Metal Parts 2014
 

Re: pic: Spectrum Sheet Metal Parts 2014
 

Out of curiosity, approximately how many sheet metal parts do y'all have on a finished robot?

This season is the first that we're designing a majority of parts for manufacture by our sheet metal sponsor and the quantity has been overwhelming. Our sponsor has been very gracious and awesome, but I am not sure if they were expecting to get 100+ parts. We certainly weren't expecting to send that many.

Re: pic: Spectrum Sheet Metal Parts 2014
 

OOOOHHHHHH PREEEEEETY!!

Re: pic: Spectrum Sheet Metal Parts 2014
 

As another sheet metal team, we have sent ~40 unique parts to our sponsors. One of the tricks I have learned over the years is to try do more than one thing with each bracket looking at it from a systems level. We try to use the same bracket for a few different things, like shaft supports and retainers. We also have a few reverse bend parts, so the nesting count is lower. Every sheet metal place will make a few extras so they can tune in the breaking and if you have reverse bend parts it minimizes the excess. Additionally we ask for 3 sets of everything (comp robot, practice bot and spares), but yes it is still quite a bit of metal and the turn around time is always a challenge.

Re: pic: Spectrum Sheet Metal Parts 2014
 

Last year we had 78 unique sheet metal parts, 28 of these required bending, 512 pieces in total. Very similar to what you mentioned, our sponsor wasn't expecting that many parts. They pulled through for us but it was a strain. This year we vowed to reduce the part count and ended up using more of a hybrid sheet metal and tubing model. We ended up with about 17 unique sheet metal parts, 154 pieces in total. Our sponsor contact was bracing for the worst when we recently dropped off the list of parts - after surveying the list he was a happy camper.

Re: pic: Spectrum Sheet Metal Parts 2014
 

This is really our first year of having a majority custom sheet metal robot. We started our relationship with our sponsor last year but since they were the ones doing the bending and cutting our turn around times were to long for a lot of parts we could make our selves. This year since one of our students interned with them and is able to do most of the labor we are able to get parts back much faster.

The robot actually only has 27 unique laser cut parts, and only 14 of them have bends. We reuse a lot of parts in different places and try to design flat parts as much as possible to save time. We'll probably have to redesign a few parts but that run was pretty much the last one we needed to get two full robots.

Re: pic: Spectrum Sheet Metal Parts 2014
 

Wow -- we have only sent 28 unique parts so far, with a total quantity of 146 pieces. About a third of them require no bending. Beside our octagonal frame parts, all of our bends are pretty easy 90* flanges. That makes me feel a bit better. :)