is fiberglass legal to use on a first robot?

[Jay H 237]

You can also mill the extruded fiberglass if needed. Just set up a Shop-Vac with the wand near the endmill. It's only messy if you allow it to be.

We used extruded fiberglass for arms back in 2000 but they never made the final cut. During the sixth week we found a problem (you know how that's always the best time to find problems ) with our arm, not related to the use of the fiberglass, that caused them to be scrapped. Due to the cost and time constriant we didn't order more and went with extruded aluminum we had on hand. I don't have any photos of those arms otherwise I would have attached one.

[N7UJJ]

We've been using extruded fiberglass and Lexan for three years. It's very easy to work and simple tools will do. Extremely strong for the weight.
Non metallic so it is transparent to the radio waves and no grounding or shorting problems due to a metal frame.

Videos at http://www.phxhs.k12.az.us/education..._id=1127872327

we use it on our ROV too.

Great stuff

[KenWittlief]

working with fiberglass (mat and resin) is something everyone should tinker with at some point

its really incredible stuff, and you can do things with it that are much more difficult with any other material

but like all things, it has ideal applications, and bad applications.

[Gdeaver]

The material you want to use is fiberglass pultrusuions. They come in the shapes that aluminum does. !/8" wall is what we used but it comes in thicker walls. Mcmaster-Carr sells it. The common pultrusions are fiberglass (e glass) and polyester resin. You can also find pultrusions made with vinyl ester resin. It's a little stronger and more expensive. Team 104 used this for our arm in 2004 and 2005. You can't use the same methods with pultrusionas as with metal. As a rule do not drill holes to mount thing on pultrusions. Clamp them on. Bolts, bearings and other fasteners can be set in the ends for mounting by using epoxy and chopped fiber (carbon or fiberglass). Some teams have used birch ply wood in the construction for cost savings. If you laminate a layer of 6 OZ s glass on both sides of the plywood the result is very strong robot covering at a fraction of the cost of polycarbonate. There are all kinds of uses for fiberglass and composite techniques on first robots. Easy to do, only requires hand tools But there is a little learning curve. Great for fall practice. as a general rule a composite design can save about 25% the weight of an equivalent aluminum part.

[ngreen]

We used fiberglass unistrut on this years robot for the elevator lift and arm. Great material. Saved us a ton of weight and stong enough in testing to hold at least 4-5 tetras at 5-6 feet or at least one mentor trying to break it. Look at 1108 Teaser #1 and #2 to see our fiberglass or I'm sure you can find a competition picture somewhere.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by ngreen

We used fiberglass unistrut on this years robot for the elevator lift and arm. Great material. Saved us a ton of weight and stong enough in testing to hold at least 4-5 tetras at 5-6 feet or at least one mentor trying to break it. Look at 1108 Teaser #1 and #2 to see our fiberglass or I'm sure you can find a competition picture somewhere.

Please keep in mind the different types of strengths. While it can take weight consider that if they make something like their entire frame out of this they might want a padding to keep from chipping and splintering.

[Gdeaver]

With composite structures the orientation of the fibers affect it's characteristics. One problem with pultrusions is the large majority of fibers are in the length direction. Because of this point impacts are a problem with Pultrusions. This can be partially addressed by filling the pultrusion with 2 lb, 2 part expanding foam. With pultrusions a good way to increase the point impact strength and increase the load bearing capacity is with tube in tube construction. We took a 2" 1/8 wall and a 1" 1/8 square tube pultrusion. The 1" was inserted in the 2". The space between the 2 on one end was filled with epoxy and chopped carbon fiber for 4" and bolts where set in the epoxy to mount the hinge hardware. The space between the 2 tubes was then filled with the 2 part foam with in 6" of the other end and then that end was filled with epoxy fiber mixture. The resulting structure Has point impact resistance and is stronger than going to heavy wall units and is still very light. With composite work I would strongly recommend using an amine laminating epoxy and not polyester resins. The surface hardness and strength is much better with epoxy.

[Veselin Kolev]

Fiberglass gets its strength from the glass fibers that make it. If you drill a hole in a fiberglass box beam, the glass fibers are no longer continuous, so you compensate the beam's strength. If you want to have a continuous box beam with cuts in it, you have to get it custom woven by a company, and that is pricey. I would stick to using fiberglass welding glue, or if you must, only drill screw holes in the very ends of the beam. That way you retain as much of the beam's strenght as possible.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by Veselin Kolev

Fiberglass gets its strength from the glass fibers that make it. If you drill a hole in a fiberglass box beam, the glass fibers are no longer continuous, so you compensate the beam's strength. If you want to have a continuous box beam with cuts in it, you have to get it custom woven by a company, and that is pricey. I would stick to using fiberglass welding glue, or if you must, only drill screw holes in the very ends of the beam. That way you retain as much of the beam's strenght as possible.

One thing to keep in mind with fiberglass as well as carbon fiber is the epoxy. I know heavy carbon fiber weave has a much weight to strength ratio than stainless steel but it doesn't take sharp impact well (it shatters because its brittle) and while Kevlar weave can take impacts extremely well over a series of hits the epoxy will turn to dust and the Kevlar turns back to fabric. I'm willing to bet fiberglass has a similar limitation due to the epoxy or glass (one or the other will give). Fiberglass is actually brittle (I found this out from experimentation) It can break of in chips or even form finite cracks due to minuscule air bubbles that weaken it.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

I know heavy carbon fiber weave has a much weight to strength ratio than stainless steel but it doesnt take sharp impact well (it shatters because its brittle)

Run a robot at full speed into a properly built sheet (or something similar) of carbon fiber, then come on here and say that. 330 ran an old robot into a piece many times and the only damage was a few scratches and scrapes.

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Im willing to bet fiberglass has a similiar limitation due to the epoxy or glass (one or the other will give).

Not necessarily. If you drill a hole through fiberglass, you might have an easy time breaking it, but if you keep holes to the minimum, and only use it above the frame (or as the frame as previously described), you should be OK. I don't kno how brittle fiberglass is, but 330's arm in 2004 was mostly fiberglass, and it didn't break easily.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by EricH

Run a robot at full speed into a properly built sheet (or something similar) of carbon fiber, then come on here and say that. 330 ran an old robot into a piece many times and the only damage was a few scratches and scrapes.

Actually thats me quoting the owner of www.sollercomposites.com in a talk we had two days ago. Since its his profession and he owns one of the leading companies in the field Im assuming he knew what he was talking about. I don't always randomly make up facts.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Actually thats me quoting the owner of www.sollercomposites.com in a talk we had two days ago. Since its his profession and he owns one of the leading companies in the field Im assuming he knew what he was talking about. I don't always randomly make up facts.

My dad directed the making of our test materials (as well as obtaining the carbon fiber and epoxy). He also has worked with the stuff for a living, particularly its uses in aircraft. I would presume that he knows the subject very well also.

The other thing that may affect the strength is the thickness of the epoxy. The thicker the better to a point, and we laid it on thick, then laid it over a mold and let it cure.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by EricH

My dad directed the making of our test materials (as well as obtaining the carbon fiber and epoxy). He also has worked with the stuff for a living, particularly its uses in aircraft. I would presume that he knows the subject very well also.

The other thing that may affect the strength is the thickness of the epoxy. The thicker the better to a point, and we laid it on thick, then laid it over a mold and let it cure.

Well that or adding extra layers. Like i said kevlar has 20% the stength of cabon but takes a beating much better so it makes a good outer layer...... wait no were still talking about fiberglass right? yeah all i know is that the tube i posted a pic of is now chipped. The lesson: don't hit them with hammers.

[Norm M.]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Fiberglass is actually brittle (I found this out from experimentation) It can break of in chips or even form finite cracks due to minuscule air bubbles that weaken it.

The landing gear on my airplane is solid fiberglass. Not brittle. Also the main spar.

Fiberglass is a very generic term. A lot of people think of the polyester resin and chopped glass. In airplanes we use woven cloth and a two part epoxy. This epoxy has a much greater pot life, and gives you time to smooth everything out.

A couple sources for materials to learn with: Wicks Aircraft and Aircraft Spruce have a composite kit which includes a manual from Rutan's plans. The kit includes epoxy, cloth, different types of foam, and some flox and micro balloons. Another source for epoxy and cloth is at West Marine stores. The West System epoxy with slow hardner works quite well.

We have used fiberglass laid up over a large salad bowl (about 4 layers of 7 ounce cloth) to make 'hands' to grasp a large ball. 2000 game, maybe? We also used about 12 layers to reinforce some plywood to make a spring as part of a ball thrower mechanism.

[mechanicalbrain]

Originally Posted by Norm M.

The landing gear on my airplane is solid fiberglass. Not brittle. Also the main spar.

Fiberglass is a very generic term. A lot of people think of the polyester resin and chopped glass. In airplanes we use woven cloth and a two part epoxy. This epoxy has a much greater pot life, and gives you time to smooth everything out.

A couple sources for materials to learn with: Wicks Aircraft and Aircraft Spruce have a composite kit which includes a manual from Rutan's plans. The kit includes epoxy, cloth, different types of foam, and some flox and micro balloons. Another source for epoxy and cloth is at West Marine stores. The West System epoxy with slow hardner works quite well.

We have used fiberglass laid up over a large salad bowl (about 4 layers of 7 ounce cloth) to make 'hands' to grasp a large ball. 2000 game, maybe? We also used about 12 layers to reinforce some plywood to make a spring as part of a ball thrower mechanism.

Uhh i think your talking more about composites like on the site i posted. i was talking about the tube i posted a pic of but yeah thats the material i referred to. What we might do is a secret combination of layers of various sheathing to make our frame (assuming we can afford it)