Quote:
Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay
The important thing to remember here is that a hexagonal frame perimeter is an ENHANCEMENT and not a necessity. Don't sacrifice build time to design a hexagonal drivetrain unless you think that t-bones are what's holding you back.
In my opinion, only the top ~5% of FRC teams can both benefit from a hexagonal drivetrain and have the resources to build one without sacrificing elsewhere on the robot.
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+1
In 2014
3467 had some extra edges up our sides which were a necessity for our shooter packaging and not added for t-bones which ended up being a benefit in a heavily defensive game.
We poured a lot of time and effort into the frame extensions, bumpers, mounting, & maintenance that didn't need to be spent there. I wouldn't advocate building another frame like that in the future and fully agree with Ty that unless you have an higher level of manpower, experience, & resources you should probably avoid trying this during build season.
To help with t-bones I would prefer a drop down omni wheel or ball caster that teams can easily remove or add depending on their needs without locking our drivebase into a specific design/layout early in the year.
Personally the bumper construction & mounting is what makes this frame style very hard to pull off easily.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sanddrag
Can anyone elaborate on what exactly is happening with the plywood in the bumper in a robot like 1678 pictured above? Is it separate pieces cut and joined somehow?
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Can't speak for how 1678 achieved theirs, but on 3467 we had five individual pieces of plywood with the three side pieces held together by a patiently cut down/sanded 2x4 since we didn't have access to sheet metal. It was as unpleasant as it sounded and very weak. IIRC a versa gusset or two was thrown in at some point after the plywood started to crack.
