Quote:
Originally Posted by String
How does the 2x1x.1 polycarbonate tubing Vex sells compare to 1/16th wall 6061-T6 aluminum 2x1? Is it stiff enough to use for frames and structural components?
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Depends on what you're using it for and how you're using it. We bought some of this to play around with at the beginning of the season. Initially we were going to use it as cross-bracing for our robot frame, but as we finalized our shooter design it became impractical and we ended up using 1/8" thick aluminum tube instead (needed more rigidity on the wide face of it, and we had the weight to play with).
Honestly though, if you're applying force on the narrow face or down the length of the tubing it's probably fine for most structural applications. I don't think I would build my drive base out of it (too much flex, and the potential for holes to wear out), but for manipulators, upper structure, and to some extent, frame support, it's great.
The nice thing about using polycarbonate instead of aluminum is that it flexes but generally doesn't permanently deform like aluminum (especially thin aluminum) does, so for anything that sticks outside of the robot or can otherwise take impacts it's generally more durable.
If nothing else the stuff is fairly cheap, so it might be worth buying one to experiment with like we did.
