Plywood - talk to us about how you use plywood

[Ian Curtis]

We have not used that much of it in the past, but our pit neighbors in Seattle did. 1899 had a gorgeous plywood robot, and we plan on borrowing some of their construction techniques this season.

I've attached a few pictures I took at Seattle this year. For robot building they had cycled through a bunch of different kinds, but ultimately settled on this 5mm sanded ply, which is actually slightly thinner than 5mm. It is super cheap (under $15 for a 4x8 sheet). They sealed it as sheets, and then just put it in the laser cutter and got out puzzle pieces. In cutting the joints they didn't consider the kerf of the laser and the joints were definitely plenty tight.

Because the wood is so cheap, they built multiple iterations of their frame. I forget the exact number but it was at least five. Due to the puzzle-piece nature they also had some fun figuring out the best order to put it together. To hold it together they buy wood glue in 5 gallon buckets, and spent a sizable amount of money on Harbor Freight clamps. Anyone who went to their pit can attest that they had a lot of clamps.

If someone from 1899 is around feel free to correct me or send me a PM, because I've actually got a few more questions.