pic: Wood Coast Drive V2

[TheOtherGuy]

Looking good, Cal!

Originally Posted by KohKohPuffs

Interesting design. Really like it.

Just one thing, why did you choose wood over aluminum for the drive chassis material? Is it for the weight benefits? I always thought that wood for a drive chassis is not preferable because when, say, you get hit by another robot, then the wood may break, or something like that. Really not sure of this, since I've never done so much woodwork in the past.

It's mostly for convenience. We have a Trotec Speedy 300 (~29" x 17") laser cutter in our workspace that can cut up to 1/4" plywood. Since we have no CNC metal-working tools, the laser cutter is by far the fastest method to turn an idea into reality.

It's an excellent material, though, and surprisingly cheap. There are drawbacks (widening of side-loaded bearing and bolt holes, chipping, attachment method, etc) but we feel the benefits outweigh the issues. We may experiment with wooden gussets and aluminum tubing for the interface between the drive base and mechanisms, as well as the mechanisms themselves. While laser cut plywood is great, we like to stress that it's not always the right material for the job.