Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
I wouldn't use 1/16" wall in the drive area; 1/8" wall is probably better. It's heavier, yes, but if you've seen old (pre-bumper) robots with 1/8" wall, you'll understand why I'm skeptical of 1/16" in the drive area.
You can swiss-cheese 1" tube; however, if you're going to do it in your drive area, you need to plan how you're going to do it. The drive area is the most critical (read: least failure-tolerant) area. Using a triangle pattern in say 1"x2" is not uncommon, if planned out. 1"x1" is a riskier proposition.
I'm with Akash, if it's 1/16", don't weight reduce at all. I've used that thickness on two robots, once out of contact zones (a shooter frame, using 3/4" and 1" tubes) and once supporting other robots (1", IIRC, and covered in corrugated plastic). It's strong, but not if you put holes in it.
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Oops, guess I forgot to mention that I'd stick with thinning down tubing to 1/16th on mostly upper structures, not the drivetrain. Its what we did this year on our robot just incase there were any "high force impacts" as Lunacy had guaranteed us
The structure above was all 1/16"