Quote:
Originally posted by ChrisA
drilling speed holes to reduce weight does make your robot cool looking and if positioned right will make your robot go faster (im still not so sure how effective it is  ) but they are a pain in the butt to cut. its not the actual drilling that kills ya its the problem of how many is it going to take, and where can we put these holes so that we can knock off a couple pounds.
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Why not calculate the volume of material you take away, and multiply by the density of the material ? D = M/V doesn't change much, and for many materials such as aluminum, steel, and softwoods, the approximate densities you can find in a library at school should give an adequate indication of the mass you are extracting. Make a spreadsheet program to calculate volumes & masses for holes of different diameters or rectangular areas, for different thicknesses. Then figure out how many holes the job will need.
The other part of the problem, where to put the holes, is more complicated. Staying away from the edges of aluminum angle, is usually a good idea, as is leaving some material around points at which other elements attatch to the one you're lightening. And beware the effect of sharp changes in shape (like square / rectangular holes), which often raise stresses more than nicely smooth hole shapes (like round holes and round-ended slots).