pic: 1726 Pre-Assembled Chassis

[MrForbes]

This is our third year using it, we got the idea from our mentor team 842. The fiberglass we use is "pultruded" it comes in shapes like channel, angle, I beam, etc, and we use the 1/4" thickness.

It is amazingly tough, and it will not get bent like aluminum does. The density is lower than aluminum, so a 1/4" thick fiberglass part is just a little bit heavier than a 1/8" thick aluminum part of the same shape.

We've learned that having a heavy frame can be a good thing, it helps keep the robot from falling over--because it forces you to make the top of the robot lighter to meet the overall weight limit.

We have used fiberglass I beam for the main frame rails in the past, but this year with the mandatory bumper rule we decided that it would be ok to just use the channel, with the wheels outside of the frame rails. Estimated weight of the fiberglass parts pictured is just over 10 pounds (the channel is 4" x 2" x 1/4" and weighs 1.02 pounds/foot)