Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

Yeah, that's it. We just call it FMS. http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:...ges/struts.gif

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

how easy is it to work with the 80/20 stock? do you use all the special bearings and brackets and mounts ect? Or just fab something up for it? And anyone have success tig-ing it?

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

Our team is trying something different this year. We used the kit frame the last couple years. This year we are making the frame out of 8020 quick frame and EZ-Tube connectors. We pounded our frame together on Saturday. Was nice not to have to deal with the bolts.

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

It has a clear anodize on it, so you'd need to get rid of that before welding.

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

1618's never used it before, save for one odd piece of what appears to be Bosch on the back of their 2006 robot, but it looks like we're going to use a good bit this year. Exact details are a known unknown, but the past is very much coming back to haunt me.

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

675 is.

For like the first time... ever since I can remember being on the team.

Although admittedly, it's a REALLY cool application of the material, imo.

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

Its very easy. We use some of the official brackets, but we make most of our own - its MUCH cheaper to make your own. 80/20 isn't the cheapest material!:ahh: We only use 80/20 in limited applications. It's kinda heavy to build an antire robot out of (and expensive). Also, 80/20 frames tend to twist and loose their square.

In 2007 We used four pieces of 80/20 1010 in our drivetrain. It made tensioning the chains really easy. We'll be doing that again this year...

I've also had good luck TIG-ing it. You just need to REALLY sand it down and make sure all the anodization has been removed. Otherwise you won't get any penetration.

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

You could look at the 1050 profile. It is 1"x0.5" but only has the t-slot on one side.

http://8020.net/T-Slot-4.asp

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

80/20 is great, great stuff. Just make sure you get the right stuff - some of it can be very heavy. We used it for pieces of our arm, our control board, motor mounts, and pieces of our chassis last year. It's really versatile stuff, I especially like the t-nut system. You can mount something virtually anywhere in the slot in a matter of seconds, no drilling, tapping, or any of that stuff.

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

I know my team is defiantly using it because our limited resources in a shop and on my old team we usually found 80/20 to be incredibly lighter than we throught and we used a lot of it for the arm, mast, chassis, well just about the entire robot. 80/20 is difficult to use for the inexperience but once you know how to manipulate it, it's amazing stuff.

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

1619 used it for our robot carrier when we built it. ;)

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

team 1591. god that stuff is great

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

We've had bad experiences with it falling apart every year, even when it's not a component that does anything. We have ALWAYS had to drill through it and run a bolt to get it to stop sliding.

Since it's difficult to drill through 80/20, we WOULD be better of using something else, it would just save us work! Our mentor, though, swears by the stuff because of it's modular nature. It doesn't become so modular once it's bolted into place. He's never around during that part :P

So my final opinion: Prototyping, maybe. Final build, no way.

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

We used it to biuld a multimedia educational display/pit display with rolling tool carts, media module, and safety module. It fits in a 10x10 and 8x8 pit. It has couple TV's and digital projector that projects onto a 10 foot tall back panel. We haven't had it at a competition yet as we are still working on getting the tool carts and other modules outfitted.

Re: 80/20 ?!?!?!
 

Team 1261. We use it every year for pretty much our whole robot. If you tap the end and use the cube-like gussets, as opposed to using normal gussets it shouldn't slip at all.