[EricH]

Originally Posted by Molten

I disagree. We use the 1 1/2" Aluminum tubing and it makes it much stronger. Last year, our robot got tipped over 3 times and did not show the slightest hint of damage. When making a frame, keep in mind that the best robot is lousy once it falls apart. The main point of the frame is to keep everything from falling apart. It does not necessarily have to be fancy, it just has to be functional. Remember, function over form.

I didn't say a thing about using it in the drivebase. Superstructure is the part of the robot above the drviebase. On our robot, we use 1 1/2" x 1" x 3/4" tubing for the drive frame and key superstructre (masts for arms, for example). 3/4" thinwall is used for stuff where we either need it to weigh nothing or we don't really care. It is pretty strong though. 330 used it for ramp framing last year. It supported about 140 lbs, often charging onto it, and we were more worried about the corrugated plastic being gouged than we were about the frame. I just wouldn't recommend using it for a drivebase.