Painting

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by Jon Jack

You'd be surprised actually. I believe 330 paints their robots, after Atlanta their robots still look good.

330's trademark color scheme for the past several years has been to have blue "fixed" parts, like the frame, and bright yellow "moving" parts like gripper claws or arms. When possible we blue anodize the frame and related parts. But if time presses or it will cost too much to anodize (one of our sponsors pays for it), then we have a very similar color of spray paint that we use. The yellow is always spray painted.

We have learned over the years that it really takes very little extra time to paint our parts. The last bit of a build session is used to prep parts to be painted. Painting is the last thing we do before locking up. The parts are allowed to dry overnight and through the next day. When we come back to the shop the next evening, the parts are dry and ready to install and we've missed out on most of those lovely paint fumes.

We have also done the bit about fancy painting on the inside of the plastic covers, but the robot looks more professional when the frame is painted or anodized. So we paint the frame and the covers too.

With the advent of required bumpers, we really don't loose too much paint anymore, so the robots don't look all beat up. I highly recommend having some sort of finish on your robot, other than plain aluminum.