pic: Team 100 Presents: Balrus

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by Treebeard

I love the fist painted on the puncher! All student paint job? I would like to learn how to do that for our kids.

A lot of stuff was powdercoated my me and another guy at TechShop (a Bay Area hackerspace). It's pretty easy with powdercoating to get something that looks decent right out of the oven (shiny, full coverage), the trick is to figure out how to make the paint never flakes off with wear. We're better than we are in the offseason, but there are still some flakes. It also takes a while to get everything in and out of the oven, especially lots of big welded assemblies (like the bottom forks). Masking well and getting decent consistency with the thickness of paint can also be difficult.

The fist and a few things we didn't have time to PC were done with spray paint. I'm not sure of our exact process, but if you want, I could find someone who would know the exact details if you came by out pits at SAC. The fist was done with a custom mask made by the girl that makes our bumpers, we're really happy with how it adds that little bit of flair to the bot.

We like powdercoating, as it's generally a more durable than spray paint. But if you don't have a PC sponsor who'll let the kids use the equipment, or don't want to build your own setup (not too hard actually, from what I've heard), spray paint done right will generally look pretty good.