Quote:
Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob
Any idea on the strength of any of the 6061, 6063 or other high grade "airplane" aluminum when it gets down to .125 and . 06275 of an inch? And are there any special ways we could have this aluminum piece be coated with something to electrically isolate it?
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Anodizing aluminum will make the surface of the metal non conductive. Painting, nylon dip, will also make the surface non conductive. Chem.-Film or alodine will coat the surface but will be electrically conductive.
Structural shapes like angles, tubes, extrusion, made from .125" 6061 material are plenty strong. Great for load bearing but a bit on the heavy side. We only use .125" thick alum for parts outside the bumper zone and we expect to be hit. We use .062" thick alum 6061 for most tubes. It is a good trade off for being lightweight and strong. Our shooter super structure for this years robot is made from .035 thick 1.25 dia round tube. We use a glued and rivet construction method and it is super strong and lightweight. We really did a good job.
We use 5052 H32 for all of our sheet metal parts. The chassis is made from .090" 5052. The brackets are mostly made from .062" 5052