Well, I decided to try and put a gyro on our robot since we have 10-15 pounds to spare. I have everything together ready to order…except for the stock needed to spin a 10" gyro/flywheel.
I found a website that sells a 10" diameter “rod” that is one foot long…but I only need it to be 1.5" long with the 10" diameter.
Does anyone have any contacts that might be willing to provide such a piece of stock aluminum for team 3020? Doing so would earn the company name on our robot at Atlanta! We also need it turned on a lathe, either manual or CNC. I think I have a contact for getting it turned, but I am not sure they own a lathe large enough to turn a 10" diameter disk.
We are located in Southern California, in Orange County.
Team 2168 , the CyberFalcons from Fitch High School in Groton CT had a flywheel machined from 12" stock…they purchased a 4" thick piece from McMaster-Carr…it was machined at Dominion’s Millstone Nuclear Plant’s machine shop. Stephanie Slezycki, who designed their gyro, is one of their engineering mentors, from Electric Boat (she’s also a TechnoTick grad!).
If you can find a sponsor with a CNC, you can buy plates like people have said and create the discs on the Mill. I think team 1388 did it and they had very good success.
1.5"x12"x12" billet of 6061-T651 will run you about $75, and can be found at places like Yarde Metals Drop Zone. They have some of the best prices around for random metal parts. (Also, make sure to buy a piece that costs as least $75 (or add other random parts to order to go over $75), or you’ll be whacked with an $18 service charge).
As RC said, any machine shop with a CNC mill can bolt this to a fixture plate and mill it into a disc.
Thanks for all of the suggestions! I’m going to try and get into contact with the possible CNC sponsor tomorrow, and hopefully he will know where to locally get aluminum plates as you guys have suggested.
About 30 minutes drive from Rancho Santa Margarita is Industrial Metal Supply in Irvine. They have many pre-cut discs possibly in the range you’re looking for, and often will have scrap for about $1.60 per pound.