[roystur44]

Glenn,


.090" 5052 is a good place to start. .060" thick works also if designed properly with folds and gussets to strengthen the part.

.125" thk works good if you want weight down low to keep a low COG.

So it all depends on what you are trying to accomplish with your design. Pick the material that will compliment your design.

For your lightening pattern I would ask what the sponsor has in terms of equipment.

NC punching the parts I would stick to a round staggered perf pattern
NC Laser or Water Jett go with the diamond or round
NC router I would go with a light guage material and skip the lightening.

Keep costs in mind. Make it simple and clean. That is what I always tell my kids. Try to keep the part count down. It makes them think of better ways to design if they have a limited of the number of parts/time they can use to build a robot.

Here is a tip to help you get the correct flat pattern out of Solidworks

Use:
.100 for your bend deduction BD for .060 " material
.195 for .125"
.145 for .090"
use .035 for the bend radius on 5052