is fiberglass legal to use on a first robot?

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

Yeah its legal as of last year. As to messiness.... well i wouldn't recommend doing it yourself. Its not nearly as easy as something out of Home Depot would have you believe. If you want to do your frame then buy premade through the internet. If you want something like a skin (shell) I would still recommend going through the internet but its going to cost. Fiberglass has a decent strength to weight ratio. It won't bend but if you get hit hard it will chip and if your hit REAL hard its possible to shatter. Go with 1/8 (maybe 1/4) inch hollow tubing if you want to make a frame. Even then im not an expert. Contact a company and ask them.

I think in general you are giving fiberglass construction a bad rap.

How well it performs depends on several factors: what type of cloth and resin you use, how its applied, the shape of the object you are creating...

My Hobie Cat sailboat has fiberglass hulls, and a couple times I have come into the docks going downwind, in a good breeze, missed grabbing the dock and sailed right up on the concrete ramps at the marina. No damage to the hulls at all, just a couple blue streaks left on the ramps.

The hulls are probabally an inch thick where they hit - but thats the point. You have to know your material and know your application, the formfactors that will give it strength or flexibility (the sides of the Hobie hulls do flex some if you push on them).

Fiberglass is not good for bumpers, but neither is steel or aluminum or brass or copper or PVC... Fiberglass would not be ideal for a frame, but it would be great for protective coverings or cowlings over your electronics or mechanical assemblys (gear boxes, pnuematics, chains and sprockets).

The other postive for fiberglass: if you make a mold for the piece you are fabbing, then its easy to make several spares (replacements), or to use the part in several places on your machine.