Basic Frame Materials

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally posted by Jnadke
Steel is far too heavy and difficult to cut. I don't believe it's worth the weight versus the benefits for use in structural members.

While I can't dispute that steel is too heavy, it's not something to totally rule out. It's definitely strong, as we built similar frames out of steel in 2002 and aluminum in 2003. The steel frame never bent so much as a quarter of an inch... the aluminum one needed to be straightened every third match or so. However, this was not our primary reason for using steel. We had all the equipment and expertise needed to easily cut and weld steel, but none of the facilities to do the same with aluminum. We chose steel because we could work with it on our own, and it was stronger and cheaper than aluminum. Given the choice, I probably wouldn't do it again, but it fit our needs perfectly in 2002. We had a simple, strong robot that we could build with no outside machining.