[Joseph Smith]

Originally Posted by cpiravi

Have you considered TIG welding the tubing? If you have access to a welder, it would be a good idea to weld your drive base together (as much as possible ) because it will be very durable, especially for gussets.

We've welded in the past, and while I really like the durability and rigidity it gives us, we had a bad experience when we broke a part on our robot and were unable to replace it during the competition because we didn't have access to a welder. Since then we've moved away from welding anything except modular assemblies that can be swapped easily.