What materials do you most commonly use on your robots?

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by MichaelBick

8020 can be used effectively, and there is no need "nudge things around" if you "know where everything should be". Any material can be used incorrectly, but this does not make the material inherently bad.

"Bad" is not a binary value.

A greater propensity towards incorrect use is a detrimental property of a material, both from a standpoint of delivering a good product and perpetuating good engineering habits. 80/20 certainly has benefits, but it has noted drawbacks and, from my experience, it is a material I'd much rather not use in anything past a prototyping capacity.

I also think you're still overstating the cost, both in machining capability and time/effort, of building a tube frame; 449 has been machining with little more than a miter saw and a drill press for the entirety of the time I've been on the team, and we currently have no problems at all with tube frames. As mentioned, we don't usually make our own gussets (though we certainly have done, with success, on a bandsaw), but rather purchase ones from the 80/20 catalog and cut them down/redrill them as necessary.