Welded Frame Horror Stories

[RyanN]

Originally Posted by Andrew Blair

Ok, our team is considering a welded frame and cantilevered drivetrain for next year, but I've heard many horror stories regarding broken welds, permanently bent frames and destroyed drivetrains because of a dent in a frame member. Tell me your horror stories, what happened, and if it can be avoided. Are welds prone to break in a certain style of game and can less-than-aerospace quality welds withstand tough play, especially if braced properly? Is 1/8" tube capable of an aggressively defensive style of play, and how badly do drivetrains suffer when you're somewhat out of square?

Fusion has been using welded frames and custom transmissions at least since 2003 on Squid bot, the years before that I cannot be sure about except for Flash, Fusion's first robot, that has a welded frame if I remember correctly. We have not had any trouble with the frame, but at IRI in 2005 with Arm-N-Ra our arm was welded to a gear, and the weld broke and our arm came crashing down, but that was a weak point in the design of the robot. 5 more ounces of aluminum would have saved us. Also at IRI 2006, a chain in our transmission lost its master link lock and fell apart. Those are the only two problems Fusion has had with the robots in the past 2 years.