pic: MVRT Off-Season Sheet-metal Chassis

[BigHorse]

Originally Posted by rithinrv

loading photo ...

Let me just start by saying this is a great looking chassis.

To answer some of your questions:
Mounting electronics on the walls isn't a bad idea, but it can become very cluttered very quickly. I think I designed a chassis that had back wall mounted electronics but we never ended up cutting it.

Bumper mounts really depend on what you want to do. I have seen many different methods. Some teams do a bolt through a lightening hole, others will use angle iron to create a lip for the bumper to sit on.

We have been working on tensioning methods this last season. The best way we have found so far is to use fixed position tensioners on an array or line of holes. Slots and offcenter tensioners tend to slide out of place after frequent use, but the only thing that will ruin the tensions on a fixed position tensioner is the chain stretching. Whenever that happens we just move the tensioner down one peg and keep on driving. We have been fighting this problem for years and the method that requires the least maintaiance and headache is fixed postion tensioners with an array of holes.
We used them here if you want an example. The white plastic is delrin.

[rithinrv]

Thanks for the suggestions, I really appreciate it!

[Andrew_L]

A few tips:

-Close the box sections for the frame, it'll make them significantly stronger.
-Add in a bellypan, it'll help with torsional stiffness
-The split front part isn't very rigid either - extra support there (+bellypan) can help with that.

Check out some of 971's drivetrains for some good methods of sheet metal implementation. There are some helpful rectangular and octagonal drivetrains in the 2015 section that you should definitely check out.