which is better aluminum or steel????

[N7UJJ]

Originally Posted by SCYTE16

which is better aluminum or steel for making an outside of a robot????

Answer: None of the above

Team 842 has used the fiberglass from Creative Pultrusions for several years. http://www.pultrude.com/
It's the material of choice for us. Several reasons:

5 times stronger than steel for its weight.
Lightweight

It can be worked with hand tools - drill, hacksaw, screwdriver. Field repairs could be made with a Swiss Army knife that has that little saw!

If anything breaks, we can fix it in the pit wihout welding, machine shop, etc.

Electromagneticly transparent (No radio wave problems)

Won't corrode

You can buy it in all kinds of forms: I beams, angle beams, round tubes, sqare tubes, etc.

Its fantastic stuff.

And .. no they don't sponsor us -- we tried, though. They should!