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Posted by Bob Weiss, Engineer on team #54 from Hoboken HS and Stevens Institute of Tech.

Posted on 3/13/99 2:17 PM MST


In Reply to: square tubes are great posted by Joe Johnson on 3/12/99 2:32 PM MST:



Last year we used the "I-beam" extrusions as some of our major structural members. We cut down the flanges of the beams to save weight, and drilled a series of 1.5" holes through the main web as well. Even with all this material removed, these things were STRONG! Material is a bit expensive, and heavy unless you do a lot of machining. When machining, carbide tools are needed, unless you want to keep resharpening HSS ones. Keep the material wet to reduce airborne dust, and wear gloves when handling newly-machined parts, as the loose fibers get into your skin very easily. We used nuts and bolts as fasteners, as threading the material resulted in really weak threads, which would strip out very easily.

: The square tube is awesome stuff. The 1 X 1 X 1/8 angle stinks (it buckles at strong stares ;-)

: It has been two years since we used it on a machine, but we use it a lot for prototyping ideas.

: I have not weighed it since two years ago, but I seem to recall it being between steel and aluminum.

: It is pretty tough stuff. It is easy to cut and glue to (with the proper glue -- I don't know the type we use, but it sticks to it great).

: Over all, it has some good potential, but we have not continued to use it, so I guess that it can't be too fantastic.

: It also uses up Small Parts Inc. Bucks pretty fast compared to Al and Fe.

: Joe J.