crate design and construction

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by dubious elise

thanks for the props on the crate, elgin
that one has been around for at least 2 years that i know of, if not more (ricky q would probably know best). Very durable and lighweight, I doubt that it will be retired any time soon!

And yet I showed this to the people in charge.. and it was shot down..
Oh well, we'll see how our new (wood) one turns out.

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Oh well, we'll see how our new (wood) one turns out.

So far our guess is the crate will weigh under 200lbs empty. Mark weighed the materials so he has a rough idea. The frame is made of poplar glued and screwed together. We'll post pics when it's finished.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Jay H 237

The frame is made of poplar glued and screwed together.

Did you know that a Poplar tree will completely explode if hit by lightning because of the density of the sap inside?

Anyways, to see some progress on our new Battery cart, Crate, and Cart, go HERE

That was our first meeting, so not a lot happened...

Some planning, and a little bit of building.
Notice Nikki hard at work screwing those aforementioned poplar pieces into place.

[Elgin Clock]

w00t! Our parts came in and tonight, in about 2 hours.. the raw material was cut, fitted, and pieced together to get our cart 90% done.

CAD (11-30-04)

Then 2 weeks later:

Actual cart (12-14-04) Weighing in at only 25 pounds without a platform, it's awesome.

Next up is the crate which is moving right along.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

w00t! Our parts came in and tonight, in about 2 hours.. the raw material was cut, fitted, and pieced together to get our cart 90% done.

CAD (11-30-04)

Then 2 weeks later:

Actual cart (12-14-04) Weighing in at only 25 pounds without a platform, it's awesome.

Next up is the crate which is moving right along.

=O Who's super cool adidas shoes are those?


Actually working on it was really fun, minus the whole nail's being too light and turning 180 degrees and almost putting a hole in my hand... yeah

[Chris_Elston]

What SIZES is everyone's crate?

I assume we don't have to build a 4 ft x 4 ft crate do we? What size have you built that seems large enough for everything that you want to put in the crate?

[ShadowKnight]

FIRST releases that information when they release the rules. (So you'll know folowing the kickoff). FedEx imposes certain rules regarding size and weight. Exceeding those rules results in fees. If you're interested in shipping information from last year to give you some concept of what it should be like this year, visit: http://www2.usfirst.org/2004comp/11-...corporated.pdf or you can access all the documents available from FIRST at: http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/doc_updt.htm

Hope that helps.

[Chris_Elston]

I seen the rules, in last years PDF. But that wasn't what I was asking. What size crate did you guys build? I assume not everyone builds the MAXIMUM size of 4ft x 4ft do they? I heard one team built a crate 32" x 36" x 60". That's under the maximum size, but is that REALLY big enough for a robot, some tools, a dolly cart? I was simply asking a question about what other teams have built.

Originally Posted by ShadowKnight

FIRST releases that information when they release the rules. (So you'll know folowing the kickoff). FedEx imposes certain rules regarding size and weight. Exceeding those rules results in fees. If you're interested in shipping information from last year to give you some concept of what it should be like this year, visit: http://www2.usfirst.org/2004comp/11-...corporated.pdf or you can access all the documents available from FIRST at: http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/doc_updt.htm

Hope that helps.

[ShadowKnight]

I misunderstood your post, so thanks for correcting me. It all depends on what you're actually putting inside the crate. Since you seem to be intending to store extras like a dolly and tools, you'll probably want to go for the 4 foot wide at least, possibly 4 foot long as well. Height though is completely dependant on the height of your robot and the height of your other things. I realize that doesn't really answer your question but I don't know specifically how much stuff you are actually taking, how big those items are (dolly for example, so I can't give you specific numbers to use. It's gonna have to be a judgement call. Just try to leave some leeway to make it easier to get the robot inside the crate.

[Chris_Elston]

Yeah it's a tough call. I know what you mean, hence why I was hoping to get more people to respond to this post.

We are trying to build our crate BEFORE the kickoff, but without knowing how high the robot will be, it's hard to build a crate before the kickoff. So I was trying to get an idea for the team what other teams have done.

Have you used the same crate over and over years past?

If so, then the height you have must be big enough for all the robots that your team has built in the years past?

Originally Posted by ShadowKnight

I misunderstood your post, so thanks for correcting me. It all depends on what you're actually putting inside the crate. Since you seem to be intending to store extras like a dolly and tools, you'll probably want to go for the 4 foot wide at least, possibly 4 foot long as well. Height though is completely dependant on the height of your robot and the height of your other things. I realize that doesn't really answer your question but I don't know specifically how much stuff you are actually taking, how big those items are (dolly for example, so I can't give you specific numbers to use. It's gonna have to be a judgement call. Just try to leave some leeway to make it easier to get the robot inside the crate.

[ShadowKnight]

yes, we have re-used our crate, so the height is large enoguh to accomodate any robot we're going to build. I would do the same, if for no other reason than not knowing what design you will use for '05. As a generall rule, a margine of 3-5 inches arount the footprint of each item would probably serve your purposes (you'd have to build it right and be able to take off the side walls, which you'd want to do anyway). You also might want to make a fair sized spot to throw spares and other things in...That should work. Worst comes to worse though, you could transport the tools another way.

[Cory]

Ours was actually too large so we had to cut it down to size when Fed Ex changed what size crates they were willing to take for free, so it's at the maximum size.

It makes it easy to put the robot, cart, some tools, batteries, control system, etc into the crate.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by chakorules

What SIZES is everyone's crate?

I assume we don't have to build a 4 ft x 4 ft crate do we? What size have you built that seems large enough for everything that you want to put in the crate?

Im pretty sure FedEx limits you to a maximum size that they'll accept for free shipping. You should be able to find this size in last years Manual.