pic: 6WD Riveted Frame Development

[IKE]

Originally Posted by M. Mellott

You make a good point. I'm always concerned about the overall strength of the frame. I believe that the base frame is the foundation of the robot, and a team should never have to worry about it as far as maintenance--too many other things need attention and, barring a catastrophy, should be rock solid. We've always had solid frames, but often "solid" translated to "heavy".

I suppose we were trying to be a little different (as far as our past designs go), not only with the use of U-channel, but also the added weight savers. This is why we were hoping to develope the design over the summer, then construct and test/abuse during the fall once school starts up.

We have been doing a folded sheet metal riveted frame for 3 years now. While in general I really like it, this years game was particularly rough on it. The high-speed nature of overdrive combined with the less than compliant barrier wall made for some interesting bends in the frame this year. Our material is also a lot thinner as we use mostly 0.060 and 0.050 AL to make our frame.
If you do riveted joints, make sure that you check them periodically after major impacts and/or the end of the day. After a lot of wear and tear, then tend to loosen. Not that I would stop using them, but they do become a maintenance item. Also don't use the largest rivet that will package because having an up size option at competition is handy should they become loose.