Use good-quality hardwood plywood. It's pretty dense (more free weight) and very durable. You could easily use it to span large gaps in the structure (even though the 2012 rules limit this).
I've often used it as a structural member—it's very stiff and tough, so it makes a good outer frame rail reinforcement, when properly supported. The actual outer rail can be relatively lightweight as a result.
Use some sort of quick-release mechanism. FIRST says it should take at most 10 min to change bumpers; I say each bumper segment should take no more than 10 s, and design accordingly. (This is useful in the elimination rounds.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal578
I did not see anything in the bumper rules prohibiting other materials or parts such as Great Stuff. I wouldn't use it structurally, but using a little to just hold the noodles to the plywood seems like a great idea (it's amazingly sticky). I don't think you'll get any advantage by trying to fill the empty space. In the end, the fabric will really be the main method of holding the noodles to the plywood.
For our prototype bumpers, since the fabric wasn't ready yet, we just used some industrial "Saran wrap" to hold the noodles to the wood. Quick, cheap, easy, works great. That alone is not ready for collision events, but it's good for testing the design. When the fabric covering is installed, we can trim off any exposed plastic, and we'll be good to go.
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You should probably ask the Q&A about using materials not specifically listed. In the past, that's typically been impermissible, but this year's interpretation may vary, because of some changes in the way the rule is presented.