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If you have the time and resources available to you and your team, you may want to consider first prototyping your chassis with 1"x1" extruded aluminum (80/20, for example) so that you can quickly and easily make changes.
Once you've settled on a design that you like, rebuild that chassis from 1"x1" Al box lengths. It'll be comparably strong and rigid, but much, much lighter. If I recall correctly, this is a methodology that Wildstang (111) employs.
As I've mentioned in the past, I don't like extrusion because, even as heavy as it is, it isn't too difficult to break, shear, or gnarl in unnatural ways.
Personally, I design a chassis to suit my drivetrains -- but I rarely design typical drivetrains. This means that I don't rely on any single method or material for my chassis designs, but rather, I try to find the material that is most suited for my needs. It's resource intensive and usually means that getting your robot driving around takes a bit longer than other teams, but it still works pretty well.
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--Madison--
...down at the Ozdust!
Like a grand and miraculous spaceship, our planet has sailed through the universe of time. And for a brief moment, we have been among its many passengers.
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