Bosch Aluminum Structural Framing
 

We are interested in using Bosch Aluminum Structural Framing for the robot frame and would appreciate any suggestions. If you use proprietary extruded framing for your robot, who is the manufacturer? We are considering Bosch 30x30. Is this too light for the frame? Did you use Aluminum Structural Framing in the past and change to something else? What are you using now?

Carl Owenby
Maclay Robotics
Team 654

Too light?
 

I stood on a piece of Bosch Extrusion that was making a 30in long bridge.

I weigh 270 lbs.

The bosch beam flexed but did not plastically deform.

your robot weighs at most 130 lbs.

30x30 is very beefy.

20x20?
 

Is 30x30 is too beefy? Is 20x20 sufficiently strong enough?

My team used nothing but 30x30 last year when we used the extrusion.

We relised that in many areas of the bot it was stronger than we needed.

This year, in the main frame, we are still using 30x30...But for lots of connectors, and other misc parts we are using the 20x20.

I would think that you probably make an entire bot out of 20x20, but, well, call us paranoid of it breaking :P

Our team used the 30x30 the last two years for the frame and all other structural members. I think it's pretty good. Nice and beefy. You could probably get by with the 20x20 stuff for the less stressed structure and save some weight.

We used 30x30 last year, and it was ok i guess. It was great for moving stuff last minute and replacing parts... but it we really went thorought a lot of it.
we had a robust frame with the extrusion, but when we reamed the goal full speed (which we did religiously) the bosch would bend, deform and shear a lot. It might just be because we beat it pretty bad, otherwords it was great. the reason why i think it was just because we beat on it is becasue instead of the peices breaking, the bolt sheared first! so therefore the extrusion had to of been pretty tough!

bolts are for sissys
 

We are using thick wall 6063 aluminum thick wall tubing that is 2" square for the frame and chassis. We have about 100 feet of this stuff and about 100 feet of 1.5" square and 100 feet of 1.25" square that we got for free. We plan on welding the frame and chassis and we might as well go for the stronger stuff. (plus it was free)
-Andy

I have never seen the Bosch bend on a robot.

We have have problems at the corners tho. Sometimes the gussets don't hold all that well.

Make sure you double them up in high-stress areas.

This year is the first that we're going to use the Bosch extrusion. In the past, we've used .5" square Al tubing, and it has held up fairly well. We only ever got dented once, but even then, the tubing survived much better than the .25" plate that got hit.

Therefore, we decided to stick with the 20x20 (approx .75") since we figured 30x30 (approx 1 1/8") is overkill. We have no idea how it's going to turn out, but we're hoping for the best.

it wasn't exactly that the aluminium would bend, but the bolt would rip thorought the gussets and the peice would rip off...
also don't forget to use some lock-tight on the bolts! they really get vibrated around and will unscrew if u don't (and sumetimes even if u do).
also, where there is going to be a lot of impact or stress in any way, sometimes it is best just to bolt straight thorought the extrusion. It is much stronger than any hardware you can use.

i'll tell you now, if you use extrusion, make sure to have plenty of extra extrusion, nuts, bolts, and loctite on hand. you will most definitly need it. that being said, if i remember to, i'll take a picture of our robot from last year, and show you how the extrusion currently is (and this is with several parts completely removed cause they were too far gone to fix).

Yeah.....Its Good
 

Bosch tubing is more expensive, but it is well worth it.

Our robotics team is all designed already and we will be beginning our chasis on Sunday.

Re: Yeah.....Its Good
 

Yes, we have always used 30x30 and made our own corner brackets (gussets) from .25" T6 aluminum plate. We will use 3/16" or .25" aluminum plate to mount everything. (electronics use 1/8" plate.) And yes, we will be starting the chassis on Sunday 1/12/03.

we are using the extrusion system from "item" last year our bot was made almost entirely of the stuff (20x20) and was very robust and reliable.

"item" is known for its high quality and QC. Very high yield strength, tight mfg tolerances, etc.

(by the way, we used their fastening system and did not use ANY corner brackets, gussets, etc.)

do you know if your allowed to order the extruded from bosch this year, no book on it was in the kit, and only the parker extruded is in the msc book