Chassis weight

[Aren_Hill]

We finished our frame yesterday at 11.5 lbs

[sdcantrell56]

Our completely finished uber beefy drivetrain with motors and electronics is right around 50lbs

[midway78224]

our drivetrain when we finish it was at 55 lbs that was with electronics, supershifters, six wheels, etc....

[Madison]

Our frame is 10.75 lbs.

The complete, operational drive train, save 12V battery, is 35 lbs.

[sdcantrell56]

How and why do some teams make the drivetrain so light? It would seem that it would hurt the CG a lot.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by sdcantrell56

How and why do some teams make the drivetrain so light? It would seem that it would hurt the CG a lot.

We make everything as light as possible. Adding weight later is much easier than taking it off. In the ten years that I've been with FIRST, I've had a robot tip over twice.

[sdcantrell56]

Don't get me wrong I really love your frames although they are a little thin for my liking...I just think that sometimes people worry about weight in the drivetrain a little too much since that is the best place for the weight.

[Molten]

In the two years that I've been in FIRST, our robot has tipped over three times. (We played a lot of defense last year.) But MKrass is right, adding weight is really easy, I wish losing weight was the same.

[sdcantrell56]

I think we maybe have flipped 3 times in our 3 years and that was all in our first season, but a lot of that is because of the beef in our drivetrains. Now we do go a little overboard sometimes (last year) but it has good results.

[GaryVoshol]

What is this chassis thing of which teams speak? It seems to be an object which you are able to weigh? I can't find one in our shop yet.

[Dick Linn]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

What is this chassis thing of which teams speak? It seems to be an object which you are able to weigh? I can't find one in our shop yet.

A chassis normally starts as a sophisticated structure fabricated from Unobtanium, which is quite difficult to see or weigh. Strong, but very flexible and difficult to grasp. Due to design changes and production difficulties in the normal FIRST shop, later iterations usually form out of aluminum, plywood, or other things you've been tripping over, depending on your budget. Near the end of the build period, portions of the chassis usually appear on the floor in the form of chips or sawdust, due to a process called "lightening". This is not to be confused with the phenomenon called "lightning", which is a part of the electrical and control subsystem that occasionally leaks out.

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

We make everything as light as possible. Adding weight later is much easier than taking it off. In the ten years that I've been with FIRST, I've had a robot tip over twice.

... thinking back fondly to the year we actually had to bolt a 27-pound block of lead on to our robot as ballast.

Too bad FIRST does not still include the "Featherweight In The Finals" award. That was a great incentive!

-dave



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