Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfred
I was about to write about 2815's construction methods of recent years, but this really is what we use--the last two robots (with three blue banners between them) have been constructed of 1"x1" square tubing acquired from the Lowe's near where I work (which is not as cheap as Kevin's aluminum--I want your source!), attached with gussets of various sizes and shapes (we use some angle as well) with rivets and attached to the AndyMark C-Base kit frame.
|
Erm. Well I seem to have underestimated that price slightly. I'm told the 20' lengths were around $20. I'm obviously only nominally in charge of the robot's budget, heh. Our local source is
SSS-Steel. You mileage may vary with a local ferrous/non-ferrous supplier. I'll admit the Port of Houston gives us a bit of an advantage on raw material prices like this. Still, if you can find yourself an actual bulk metal supplier that's local to you, you're probably going to get better prices (and better material) than you will at Lowe's. Just do a google map search for "aluminum" or "non-ferrous metal" near you. For instance, Billfred might give a call to
Loxcreen or
Charleston Aluminum (who apparently has 2024 1" x .062" sq tube in stock. I'm envious.). If they won't sell in small lots to you or only sell to businesses, they might still be able to point you to a local distributor that can help you. Just think twice about buying from Metal Supermarkets. They specialize in selling small cut lengths to whoever, and they have a markup to prove it.
At any rate, comparing costs of my 1/16 wall tube to an AM C-Channel, you're talking $20 to $18+shipping. But you're getting 20' of tube to 3' of channel. And I can get more tube on a single day notice. So yeah, I think there's significant advantages there.
In other news, while we're getting pretty good at the 1/16 tube and plates and 3/16 rivets construction, I'm always looking to simplify things. Especially if it means I don't have to shear and break a bunch of corner brackets at work in my copious free time. So has anyone looked at or tried these
tubing connectors yet? I swear I saw a team using something like this for their tube based frame, so I started hunting. They look a bit heavier than the plates we're using, but I think things would come out straighter and less complicated. And you could assemble your frame and test things before you put a screw or rivet into the connector to secure it.