pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

WOW.... Those are amazing :ahh:

What process did you use to make them? Where did it break?

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

Oh I so wish we could use processes like that on our team. Something about molding parts is just awesome.

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

[homer] Mmmm.....Carbon Fiber.....*drool* [/homer]

Those look incredible! I hope to see them in ATL!!

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

I explain the process in greater detail Here

They broke close to the mount. There is a section of 1x1x1/16 AL tubing that we use to mount the forks to our robot. In that set the area just after the tubing ends was weak and got caught in the overpass during the quarter finals in San Diego and it shattered. As I said in the post linked above it only took us a couple of minutes to change them out.

We will have a set on display in Atlanta. Feel free to stop by.

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

with the sets we experimented with, we also found that the part only failed near the attachment point. We couldn't work around this flaw very easily so we used something we could repair more quickly. instead of carbon, we decided to go with .5'' schedule 40 steel conduit. it was almost as light, easliy bent to the desired shape, and very durable. we bent one fork twice throughout the regional, requiring about 10 seconds of repair time (bending the tube back by hand).

Were these vacuum bagged? Infused or wetted by hand? Also, did you apply any material to the handling surfaces with a higher cof?

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

They we laid out by hand, layer by layer.

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

WOW!!! :yikes:

Those look all-pro! Great job! I'll be sure to see these in person... I'm amazed you guys broke one of these beauties... looks mighty strong.

Do you have any pictures of these in use in your robot?

-q

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

that's some intense labor... i am quite impressed.

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

I love the way you guys built your bot this year, and I really enjoyed having it explained to me in your pit in LA. These are the kind of innovative materials and methods that more teams need to experiment with!

Oh, and if no-one mentioned it yet, the top part of their grabber was made from Titanium.

Re: pic: 1538's Finished Forks
 

So, I hear Dave's an epic driver with these forks haha. Love your folks, love your team, great group of people.