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Originally Posted by Rickertsen2
LIGHT!!!! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!!! Those side plates are freaking ridiculous. There seems to be a trend of this among FIRST teams. There is honestly no reason to make side plates any thicker than about an 1/8" maybie 3/16" if they are directly supporting wheels. Check out the kit gearbox, many of the team 45 gearboxes, the andymark gearboxes etc. Last year our gearboxes were made from 3/16" plate and looking back even that was overkill.
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Granted, they're not going to be light if they're 3/8" thick. But there is more to selecting a plate thickness for a gearbox than simply choosing 1/8". Material selection is the biggest factor, because the range of properties between (for example) 1/8" aluminum sheet metal and 1/8" alloy steel plate is enormous. Furthermore, what is it supporting--is it structural? If so, what about the rest of the frame? Some robots employ non-structural gearboxes, others tie them into the chassis as integral stiffening members. You can't compare these equivalently.
Incidentally, I am personally a little bit curious and concerned as to the durability of those plastic gears. Without knowing the ratios, and the shifter design (if indeed, that's what that is), I can't say for sure--but I would definitely suggest looking for metal equivalents, just in case you run into problems during testing. (Run the hell out of it!) Maybe someone could enlighten us a little bit about that?
From a mentor perspective we get to see shy, timid high school kids become leaders in there community and that folks is where we really are winning. - techtiger1 [more] 
31-01-2005, 20:22
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