Pool Noodles

[zakk]

speaking of bumpers, we are having problems with making some that go all the way around our bot, and still remaining in the weight requirement. has anyone "swiss cheesed" their plywood or anything like that in order to make the weight? thats our only hope and we feel it will jepordise our bumper's sturdiness. so any ideas are welcome

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by zakk

speaking of bumpers, we are having problems with making some that go all the way around our bot, and still remaining in the weight requirement. has anyone "swiss cheesed" their plywood or anything like that in order to make the weight? thats our only hope and we feel it will jepordise our bumper's sturdiness. so any ideas are welcome

You shouldn't be having weight problems. You're allowed 15 pounds. Ours came in at about 13. We used 1/16" thick 3/4" angle aluminum to hold the fabric, with 6-10 screws per edge. 2" (x 1/4) carriage bolts going through the plywood, 2 on the ends, 3 on the sides.

Make sure you're using plywood, not particle board. That stuff is heavy.

Don't swiss cheese it. That could make your bumpers non-standard. Last year we used 1/4" think aluminum around the edges, and were a little overweight so we milled out part of it. One of the inspectors wasn't going to let us go with that.

[zakk]

yeah, thanks dude. we got it taken care of. we just couldn't have bumpers all the way around the bot. a few minor fixes and we were good to go.