One of the things that I love about FIRST is the fact that I never stop learning how to do something new, or about a whole new process or idea. For this build season, I took the crash-course on designing CNC aluminum sheet metal parts.
A week before the kickoff event I took a tour of our new sponsor's sheet metal shop and got to see their turret-punch machines in person. What I thought was a simple process - just punch holes and bend it up - turned out to be a complex process involving minumum bend radaii, using bend relief cuts to minimize material fractures (or just position your flanges far enough away from edges to eliminate this issue), the positioning of holes in relation to flanges and other bends, and general sheet metal working ideas and protocols.
I actually enjoy designing sheet metal parts now, so there was definitely something good to come of it. (Although all my experience with Vex hardware and robots may have biased me towards sheet metal.)
