Anyone know where to find clips

[staplemonx]

We are looking for about 7 dozen of these clips.

They don't have to be exact dimensions but here is the optimal.

We are trying to make them but they are proving to be difficult without the right tools.

Thanks for the help

[MrForbes]

The right tools include a steel ruler, a Sharpie marker, a center punch, a vise mounted to a workbench or stand, a drill and drill bit, a hack saw, a file, and a hammer.

If you don't have those tools, you should try to get them, because they are pretty much essential to building a robot.

If you would like some advice about how to make the clips using those tools, let us know, we can help.

[staplemonx]

Originally Posted by squirrel

The right tools include a steel ruler, a Sharpie marker, a center punch, a vise mounted to a workbench or stand, a drill and drill bit, a hack saw, a file, and a hammer.

If you don't have those tools, you should try to get them, because they are pretty much essential to building a robot.

If you would like some advice about how to make the clips using those tools, let us know, we can help.

Agreed if we were making a few dozen. we are making about 64. The cutting part is doable. its the having to drill each hole 4 times to size and hold tolerance. That’s over 760 drilling sequences. I would rather have the kids work on something else if I can find the clips cheap enough.

[MrForbes]

As far as I know, you are not likely to find any angle brackets ready made to that specific size and hole layout. Usually when designing a mechanism, you either plan on how to make all the parts before you finalize the design, or you design around parts that you can buy.

There are some tricks to making parts with holes in the same place, you can make a drilling jig that supports the part in place, and has a hole for each hole you need to drill, that lets you just put the drill in and it automatically aligns it. You would (edit: might) want to drill the holes before bending the part, too.

It need not be fancy, just needs to do the job. Look around and see what you might make it out of.

[Jon Stratis]

Not specific size/layout you posted, but what about one of these?

http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Ma...atalogId=10053

http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Ma...atalogId=10053

Standard corner braces, one at 2 inches long, the other at 1.5. Generally speaking, any hardware store is going to carry some corner brackets (usually near the door knobs)... they may not be exactly what you need, but if you can make them work...

[staplemonx]

Originally Posted by squirrel

As far as I know, you are not likely to find any angle brackets ready made to that specific size and hole layout. Usually when designing a mechanism, you either plan on how to make all the parts before you finalize the design, or you design around parts that you can buy.

There are some tricks to making parts with holes in the same place, you can make a drilling jig that supports the part in place, and has a hole for each hole you need to drill, that lets you just put the drill in and it automatically aligns it. You would want to drill the holes before bending the part, too.

It need not be fancy, just needs to do the job. Look around and see what you might make it out of.

Yeah i made a bad assumption. I assumed simple clips would be easy to find with a 1" spacing between holes.

If we have to drill them your idea of a drill jig is awsome. That would make things go alot faster.

[MrForbes]

Thinking about it more, you probably want to make your drill jig so it works on a pre bent bracket, then you won't have to worry about bending it exactly right.

If you get the drill jig set up and working, please post a pic so we can see it. This is neat stuff, and helps out other teams

[staplemonx]

Originally Posted by squirrel

Thinking about it more, you probably want to make your drill jig so it works on a pre bent bracket, then you won't have to worry about bending it exactly right.

If you get the drill jig set up and working, please post a pic so we can see it. This is neat stuff, and helps out other teams

We are going to get that set up today so we should have some pictures in a few days.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

JJ,
You can email me and let me know what you are planning to use these for. There may be a simpler method that 64 brackets.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

JJ,
I saw your picture in your other post. Most often, teams will use gussets (triangular plates) where you are planning to use clips. One of the advantages is to provide angular support in a one piece solution. The plates are easily attached using pop rivets or threaded fasteners. As an example in your front vertical post, a triangular piece of aluminum attached to the back of the junction would prevent the joint from rotating left to right while providing a method of attaching the post to chassis bottom. A plate on either side provides twice the support. This solution would cut your parts count in half.

[MrForbes]

That's a great suggestion Al. We made 4 of those very brackets yesterday to attach the base of our 4 legged tower to the kit chassis. I don't have pictures of the finished product, but I did remember to recharge the battery for my camera when I got home last night.

Here's an example of how we made similar brackets to attach a vertical piece to the wood chassis of our 2009 robot. You can turn the bracket 180 degrees, so the vertical part sits on top of the lower lip of the bracket, and it makes a compact, strong joint.

[DonRotolo]

Make a cutting and bending jig as well. Nothing like a process to make things standardize...

[MrForbes]

Here's a pic of the brackets we made the day before yesterday. They are all different by a little bit, we did not make any jigs or even use the first one as a pattern...lots of new students this year learning this stuff...but the parts work just fine.

Also out electronics is going to go on a piece of 1/2" plywood, mounted to the underside of the kit chassis. This puts the weight down low, it's very easy to build, keeps the electronics down out of the way of other things, and allows us to unbolt the whole thing and drop it out the bottom. This last is an important consideration because we need to recycle the control system, and next year we'll have it installed on a simple board that we can likely put on the new robot right away to get it running.