Chassis - Team 772 2011 off-season (update)

[AustinSchuh]

Getting closer, but you still have a ways to go.

Shorten the frame. There is no need to make it that tall. Height adds weight. You can take out at least a pound out of the frame by making it shorter.

The flanges on the front of the base aren't long enough. Make them 1.5" - 2" long. That frame will bend otherwise on impact.

Connect the two side plates. I like to do it by making the outer plate have really long flanges and pop-rivet to the inside plate. This will make the sheet metal tubes holding the wheels very strong. Right now, the plates will easily bend upon impact, potentially dropping your wheel out of the frame. Not pretty. We have used standoffs before, but I really liked making the flanges longer.

On a frame like this, it helps to draw in some sort of electronics base plate, and to use that as a structural member. Bolt your frame to it. This will help keep everything square, and augment the flanges on the front and back. Some teams use a large piece of aluminum plate with holes to keep the weight down. We've used 1/2" baltic birch before to good effect. Your call. We are looking at making that plate out of punched aluminum next year.

Which brings me to my next question. If you are going to try to make this (either during the season or now), what machines do you have access to? The triangles look like they won't punch out, though this all depends on which punches your sponsor has. Design for manufacture is huge. Will it be CNC bent, or hand bent?

While you are at it, how are you going to do bumpers? I like how 971 did it last year, but there are other ways. Now is the time to think it through. We could swap bumpers in O(1min) with ease, and have thoughts on how to make that even faster for next year.

Do you have a plan for tensioning the chain?

[akoscielski3]

Shorten the frame. There is no need to make it that tall. Height adds weight. You can take out at least a pound out of the frame by making it shorter.

Will be done tonight.

The flanges on the front of the base aren't long enough. Make them 1.5" - 2" long. That frame will bend otherwise on impact.

Im guessing you just mean the front and back plates. I can do this

Connect the two side plates. I like to do it by making the outer plate have really long flanges and pop-rivet to the inside plate. This will make the sheet metal tubes holding the wheels very strong. Right now, the plates will easily bend upon impact, potentially dropping your wheel out of the frame. Not pretty. We have used standoffs before, but I really liked making the flanges longer.

By stand-offs you mean braces, kind of like an axle with no wheel on it? I think i would prefer extending the flanges on the tops and bottoms of the frame. However this makes it hard to get into the frame to do work on the robot of needed. Or am i thinking something different form you?

On a frame like this, it helps to draw in some sort of electronics base plate, and to use that as a structural member. Bolt your frame to it. This will help keep everything square, and augment the flanges on the front and back. Some teams use a large piece of aluminum plate with holes to keep the weight down. We've used 1/2" baltic birch before to good effect. Your call. We are looking at making that plate out of punched aluminum next year.

I thought you couldn't put electronics on any metal. I will do this but it will be lexan instead of aluminum.

While you are at it, how are you going to do bumpers? I like how 971 did it last year, but there are other ways. Now is the time to think it through. We could swap bumpers in O(1min) with ease, and have thoughts on how to make that even faster for next year.

We already have a bumpers skirt to use for next year. But placement will be done soon.

Do you have a plan for tensioning the chain?

I have been thinking about this alot. And i think i know what i should do now, so i will put it on my list to do.

[AustinSchuh]

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

By stand-offs you mean braces, kind of like an axle with no wheel on it? I think i would prefer extending the flanges on the tops and bottoms of the frame. However this makes it hard to get into the frame to do work on the robot of needed. Or am i thinking something different form you?

Standoffs can take many forms. One of the easiest is to put a spacer on a bolt between the two plates, and then clamp down. You can also thread both ends of a piece of stock that is the right length, and screw bolts into it. AndyMark's transmission is held together with standoffs. When designing standoffs, the larger in diameter the standoff, the stiffer the joint.

Leave pleanty of room around the wheels for getting in. The flanges will make it harder to access, but will make it a lot stiffer. In 2010, when 971 did a box frame out of sheet metal, the two parts were flexible when separate. Once they were bolted together, the entire frame stiffened up remarkably, and we didn't have a problem. This is how 971 did our frame last year, and it worked quite well. We are going to make some minor modifications, and do it again this year if the game fits it.

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

I thought you couldn't put electronics on any metal. I will do this but it will be lexan instead of aluminum.

You can put electronics on metal. They must be electrically isolated from it though. This just takes a little bit of care. You can buy nylon screws to bolt the motor controllers down, put a rubber gasket underneath the cRIO, and you should be fine. 254 has done metal bases for 3 years now with no issue. The nylon screws make it so that if the contacts on the motor controllers touch the screws, they won't conduct electricity.

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

We already have a bumpers skirt to use for next year. But placement will be done soon.

If you are going to go through all the work to get this machined and designed, I would seriously consider making 2 sets and swapping them. It will look a lot more professional and the skirt will not catch on anything.

I didn't see a response to the question about machining capabilities. That will help us evaluate your design for ease of manufacture.

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by AustinSchuh

I didn't see a response to the question about machining capabilities. That will help us evaluate your design for ease of manufacture.

Oh yea. My dads company has a water-jet machine, he also told me that he could get it laser cut for us. I dont now If they have a CNC machine to bend the pieces, but i know they have hand ones, we also have one in our shop. We do have access to every machine to make this chassis. And we are going to be build this one before kick-off, to train the new kids, and to test the new BETA if we get chosen.

[akoscielski3]

New and improved
Electronics Base is there, its just hard too see, thats why theres a huge reflection in the center of the robot
except now the frame weighs 12.16 pounds without wheels/transmissions.



Any more questions, or improvements??