Cool Frame Ideas?

[joeweber]

2004 and 2005 we built our robot out of HDPE. We found a local company that could weld the plastic. pictures http://team1322.org/pictures.htm

[Qbranch]

Originally Posted by joeweber

2004 and 2005 we built our robot out of HDPE. We found a local company that could weld the plastic. pictures http://team1322.org/pictures.htm

Wow, thats a cool idea! Did you have much of an improvement in weight reduction? Any problems with warping? Unexpected benefits? Detriments? Why did you stop using HDPE in your machines?

I remember making our 2006 robot's auto-retracking guides (in case the robot tried to throw a track) out of UHMW and had a heck of a time doing it... i think i spent more time whittling with an exacto knife than actually machining the parts.

Very interesting...

-q

[joeweber]

No savings in weight, but this was before bumpers, was very srong but did flex, I think thats what made it strong. The big benifits was that the students could work on the material with out hurting themselves. It was like working with wood with out the splinters. When you run a wood screw into it it held very well. The weld are just as strong as the material. We have not useded it because of the design of the robots would not make it feasable.