pic: Carbon Fiber Back Panel

[jasonpatel555]

loading photo ...

[trumpthero786]

Dang. That is awesome. It looks so good. Is it easily removable for access?

[Bochek]

Originally Posted by trumpthero786

Dang. That is awesome. It looks so good. Is it easily removable for access?

Its just held on with Velcro. So yes!

[AustinSchuh]

How is your radio reception strength doing? Carbon is electrically conductive. We had trouble last year with reception strength with a carbon fiber panel and our radio.

[Bochek]

Hasn't been a problem so far.

[nakarsten]

Homemade or bought from a vendor?

[Bochek]

Originally Posted by nakarsten

Homemade or bought from a vendor?

Myself and Jason (the OP) work for a company called Apex Sport We provide the team each year with some foam core carbon pannels. 3/8" closed cell foam with 0.011" of carbon and one layer of fiberglass on each side.

[frcguy]

Very nice! Looks awesome.

[Gdeaver]

Nice to see a team getting some fiber in their robots diet.

[Geoffrey2648]

What would the cost be for a panel like that?

[NPTechnology]

If anyone saw team 5425 RVA Coder Collective from Richmond, VA at the Virginia Regional last year, their robot featured a good amount of carbon fiber including around 24 feet of tube, an electronics panel, and about 20 feet of rods. We supplied the carbon fiber for them as well as helping mentor the team on how to best utilize the carbon.

We are a small business in Richmond, VA called NP Technology, started and staffed by FIRST alumni that specializes in composite manufacturing. Most of our products are custom parts, made to order, but we've started shifting towards making standardized parts that are common in the FIRST community. Recently we've seen interest in 2" x 1" rectangular tubing for FRC as well as channel to match the tetrix channel commonly used in FTC.

When we were in the FIRST organization, on team 1522 Defenders of the Multiverse, we frequently wished we could use composite materials, but always found them prohibitively expensive. We've since found out, however, that it doesn't have to be, and have had great success in creating high quality composite components without the restrictive price tag.

If anyone would like more information, feel free to check out our website: www.nptechva.com, which has a few pictures of Coder Collective's robot, or send us an email at nptecva@gmail.com.