Bridge material question
 

I was not sure where to post this exactly, so it can moved by the moderators later.

I would like to know a good place to buy the HDPE. I look places and most are 300+ bucks. I was hoping maybe there is a cheaper place?

Re: Bridge material question
 

FYI
The bridge surface is lexan not HDPE. The key is HDPE.

Re: Bridge material question
 

Also if you don't know Lexan is a brand name for the material from SABIC. The generic name is polycarbonate which you can get fairly inexpensively for thin sheets.

Re: Bridge material question
 

We bought a sheet from our local plastic supplier for $96.

Re: Bridge material question
 

Another option for teams with a tighter budget, Lexan (or other brand of polycarb) will mimic the behavior of HDPE pretty closely. The question becomes do you need it to be EXACT? or is CLOSE ENOUGH good enough for what you're doing. I'd say for driver testing, you won't need anything more accurate than Lexan.

Re: Bridge material question
 

The offical FIRST field drawings say its HDPE. But in the video tour of the bridge they call it polycarbonate.

For what its worth a 48 inch by 48 inch sheet of 1/16th hdpe is about $20 from McMaster + shipping.

Re: Bridge material question
 

The bridge deck is HDPE, that's the colored part. The bridge surface is a sheet of polycarbonate velcroed on top of the deck.

IMO, the important part to recreate is the surface, which is polycarb. This is what will affect driving characteristics the most.

Re: Bridge material question
 

You are right, I got the bridge deck and surface mixed up.

Re: Bridge material question
 

Would you be able to provide the part number at mcmaster? I haven't went looking yet but know that there catalog is quite vast in what they carry.

Re: Bridge material question
 

Watch out for shipping on a full 4 x 8" sheet of polycarb.

Re: Bridge material question
 

so im trying to build the seesaw (bridge) and i cant seem to find any plans/blueprints anywhere . can anyone help me out?

Re: Bridge material question
 

8619K427 is the part number for the 48 inch by 48 inch by 1/16 of an inch thick smooth sheet in white.

http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default...amDrawings.pdf is the "low cost" (Read: lots of plywood and 2x4's field elements).

Re: Bridge material question
 

It's all here:

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...Field-Drawings

Re: Bridge material question
 

The Competition Manual page on the FIRST web site points to the Field Drawings.

Re: Bridge material question
 

According to FTC Robotics, 2011 -2012 Edition either US Plastics or Mc Master Carr are good sources for this Plastic. We have used TAP Plastic. We have not purchased the plastic for the Bridge yet. We are still building Game pieces. We hope to finish tomorrow. FIRST Team #2643, Mentor