Plastics

[protoserge]

Also, pay attention to the possibility of ESD when using plastics for electronics mounting. A fellow inspector and I witnessed a team last year at Chesapeake having strange issues caused by their mounting board.

A sheet of 0.063" aluminum with some dimple dies may be lighter and thinner than a plastic of the same stiffness and load capacity.

[Bald & Bearded]

Like many of the posters above have stated the exact application drives the plastic would want to use.

For electronics this year we are looking at HDPE and similar sheet plastics that we can mill easily. We also 3D print small parts in ABS.

In the past we have used corrugated fiberglass sheets for many applications including drive train pans, electronics, and one year ramps for other robots to drive onto. It has good stiffness but one needs to be very careful in mounting it using washers and other things to make sure stuff does not pull through.