pic: Frame Design
 

Re: pic: Frame Design
 

Interesting. Ball pick up, ability to human load on the top, and a shooter up front? Great layout drawing.

A question: Why do you have the second set of motors to drive the front wheel? Why not just have the rear wheel chained to the front wheel?

Also, it appears there is a sprocket reduction between the front set of planetaries and the front wheels. Is this done on the back wheels as well?

Good luck!

Re: pic: Frame Design
 

It looks like it meets the bumper rules :)

Neat design, thanks for sharing.

Re: pic: Frame Design
 

Nice design! We have a similar frame but for the wide bot!

Re: pic: Frame Design
 

Looks oddly familiar ;)

Re: pic: Frame Design
 

Just a suggestion if amateurs are welding it:

Cut out some little 1/8" thick gusset plates and weld them on all the joints. Not only will this be far stronger than butt-welding, but it will also be MUCH easier. Butt-welding 1/16" tube is very difficult, without considerable practice you'll get lots of burn-through (or if your current is set too low) you won't get enough penetration to hold the weld.

We used to have a sponsor weld our frame, and he always had trouble with the butt-welds. After we added gussets... even the kids could do it.

Re: pic: Frame Design
 

It looks like they could be using 80/20 with the connecting pieces to put it together, instead of welding. The note only clarified that the drive was welded, not necessarily the entire frame.

Re: pic: Frame Design
 

or in most cases you could take those same little gussets and pop rivit them in place instead of welding. Having spent 5 hours under the mask last night, this is now our course of action. I mean i thought the point was to make each joint so you could see through it :-)

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WOA, its a cool lookin IDW, looks like something off a manual lol ;)

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We got a really great professional welder to help us out. He agreed to do it for free as a sponsor! He's great, and he also works at a facility with pretty much every possible machine imaginable. (http://www.zmanufacturinginc.com/)

Re: pic: Frame Design
 

1. Better control.
2. We have a 1:1 reduction between the chain and the front drive wheels. The back wheels are direct drive.