It's not on the restricted materials list, so any component from the Bosch catalog is legal. The system they have developed is amazingly thorough and there's a lot that can be done with it.

It is heavy, though, and expensive.

For LI teams, look to Atlantic Industrial Technologies (www.aitzone.com) as a supplier. Last season, they offered a discounted package of materials to FIRST teams.

Actually, we checked up on it today, they are giving a discount this year too.

I have a question: how does one go about ordering Bosch extrusions or similar products. My team has never used anything like that (we've always been fans of steel), and don't know all that much about extruded aluminum.

Re: Bosch Aluminum Structural Framing
 

we are using 10/10. You can go with a fairly small size and still have plenty of beefiness, probably even more than you need. Keep in mind that extrusion is VERY heavy in the larger sizes, heavier than steel I believe.

Cory

Well, once you have the size that you want determined, you can order the peices. Hardware wise, there are many types of connectors you can use, some better than others. Also there are hundreds of attachments and special, specialized peices for certain functions. I think it best to get the catalog and flip through that before ordering anything.

There's a link to the entire catalog (I pasted all seventeen chapters together) here: http://www.cvhsrobotics.org/resources.htm. There is also a link to the Rexroth/Bosch web site.

-Kevin

Okay, so now that I know how to get materials, how do I decide what to buy? Is there a particular size that works best for robots?

if you read the rest of the thread, u'll get a good understanding the best way to decide the optimal size for what you are using it for.
another note is that it is all in metric! :( , so be warned!

Im not sure, but I think that you can get it in standard sizing also. I know that 10/10(what were gonna use) is 1"x1"

Cory

Not exactly. The 10x10 is specifying the demensions in metic measure. Though it looks close enough to 1inch, it is still metric. You will realize this thoroughly when you try to use standard bolts in the bosch, metric hardware.... It just don't work:)

Question: has anyone welded Bosch extrusions? Is this necessary, or is bolting it sufficient?

We have never welded the extrsion...and as long as your bolts are secure (ie put the rolt right thru the extrusion) and you have your gussets doubled up in high stress areas, it holds fine.

Keep in mind it does require occasional tightning (like any part).

keep in mind extruded aluminum is a 'practical application' product. It's not intended for unsupported forces. You can build a beast out of it, but only if it's forces are well distributed. The attached picture is a piece of 247's bot from last year. (Section of the tether). It took a pretty hard side force

:yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

Did a transport truck hit that?

Last year we used Bosch extruded alum. for the bottom part of our chassis and then used 1" and 1.5" alum. Angle for the rest of the structure and we only has one little bend when a clamping bot grabbed us and we tried to pull free.

When we built our chassis we cut the pieces to length then bolted them together. Then once we liked how it was set up we started replacing the hardware with welded joints. We never had our extruded alum. welds break but we did have some of the welds for the angle break. I think the person that did the welding touched and wasn't exactly sure what he was doing. If you touch the tungsten electrode from a TIG welder to the metal you are welding then it contaminates the tip and the welds you make after you touch become very brittle if you don't grind out the part where you touched and break off the end of the electrode and start again.

Welding anything is as strong or stronger then the parent metal that you are joining. So it's definitely better then bolting. If you weld it together then you can save up to five pounds of fasteners.

For those people that want a fractional sized extrusion may I recommend you go to 80-20 extruded aluminum they have fractional and metric extrusion that is practically identical to the Bosch extrusion.