pic: 2228 Cougar cut on to sheetmetal (CAD)

[548swimmer]

Originally Posted by sgreco

1/4 inch is overkill. My team used quarter inch side plates this year. We had 4 of them spanning the whole side of the robot and they were 3.5 pounds each after being cut and wouldn't break no mater what you did to them. CAD analysis I've done says 1/8 (if properly mounted and secured) should survive all FIRST type collisions. 1/32 is thin, but if it's just a backing for decoration it's not a problem. My team made our shooter in 09 purely out of 1/32 inch sheetmetal. It was really light and we had no structural problems (it didn't take any impact either though).

we use 1/8 thick for side plates and such, but for lightening grid patterns the cross supports were 1/4 wide. The issues here is trying to cut out two shapes in sheet metal with 1/32 between them, not cutting 1/32 thick metal.