My friend and I are trying to settle an argument:
Is the grey body of the FRC cRIO II made out of plastic or metal?
We don’t currently have access to ours and can’t find anything online that mentions the material out of which it is made.
The body is aluminum as I remember. The cRio is meant for industrial applications and the case is tied to the negative lead of the power connector to minimize interference in industrial applications.
I believe it’s cast magnesium.
I thought it was cast iron.
Its powder-coated metallic gray over a heart of awesomeness.
…
and aluminum.
It’s definitely too light for iron.
It’s either cast aluminum or magnesium. Al says aluminum, and I’m inclined to agree. I don’t think it’s quite light enough to be magnesium.
No need to speculate further… thanks Chris.
This is the first time I’ve heard anyone who should know say it was anything other than a magnesium alloy. It’s definitely lighter than I’d expect for aluminum. I find it strange that the chassis material doesn’t seem to be mentioned on any of the data sheets for the cRIO that are on the NI web site.
I think it’s a Duct-tape/zip-tie alloy.
I thought it was aluminum too. Here is a KB (knowledgebase) that backs it up
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/8171B88F5942E90A86257346007CB77A
I think you are mixing up what its made of and how you attach it. 
Well technically it is an aluminum alloy. Talking with the ME’s today on the cRIO team, I confirmed its something like 90% aluminum plus various metals needed to help with flow during casting.
Interestingly, a magnesium alloy was looked into during the early days but ultimately was not selected.
I would think a magnesium alloy would be contraindicated for an device intended for an industrial environment. Fires that don’t go out ever are really annoying.
Well, magnesium doesn’t really burn much when in a solid block form like that IIRC.
Interestingly enough, one of those major alloying elements in aluminum that is used for diecasting is magnesium. A380 (the most common aluminum for diecasting) contains 0.1% magnesium.