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Originally Posted by dddriveman
80/20 is the best material hands down. It is so light and easy to work with that you can have a working frame in as little as three hours if not less.
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80/20 is only light if you weld it.
When you add in all the connectors, it gets very heavy.
We have used 10/10 since 2003. It was nice since we could just slide stuff around to get it out of the way to access the innards of the robot, or realize that we made a design error and slide a few bolts to correct it. In 2003 we used all the connectors, which added up to be a pretty hefty penny. We didn;t have an issue with weight, but then again, our robot only weighed 90 lbs after we ripped our entirely ineffective stacker off it
In 2004, we had a lot of 10/10 left over, and had access to welding equipment, so we welded the 10/10. The frame was extremely light, and still retained most of the modularity you get with 80/20.
Some of the problems with extrusion include the fasteners slipping. This was particularly evident on both robots in that the wheels would continually slip from their intended mounting points. It's easily fixed, but a pain in the $@#$@#$@#. You really have to be sure to check all the time that your connectors are securely fastened. By the time we got to Cal Games in 03', the robot was literally coming apart because everything was so loose.
Before 2003 we had used 1.5" aluminum angle, and in 2002, we used 1.5" steel angle, which left us with a frame that was probably in excess of 40-50 lbs (Way too much strength, even for a game that was nonstop action)
Cory