Hello everyone this year my team is making a fram and we want to use aluminum 2 x 1 inch tubing but we are not sure how to connect them. any help is appreciated!
You can make small 90 degree brackets and attach them to the frame. Or you can go to your local hardware store and purchase some “angle iron” and cut them to the right size and bolt the frame together that way. There are tons of different ways to do it.
Vex Pro is a useful resource to learn how to use 2 by 1 correctly, and the 2 by 1 from them is pre drilled.
If you have access to a machine shop, welding is always an option
Versatubing as was suggested, or at least gussets.
If you have not made a tubing drivetrain before I would do it in the offseason. Lots of things that can go wrong.
Almost the same way you might connect two pieces of wood. You can put a piece of wood inside the tube for a few inches to reinforce the end and give you something to screw into. It should be a tight fit, but not so tight it splits the tube open.
There are many other ways too.
Thanks everyone very helpful we do have a welding shop and several mentors that have worked with tubing before so i think we can pull it off if we plan it right and build it right!
well welded frames also tend to be stronger, which is quite a good idea for this game
Rivnuts and gussets all the way FRC is a game of adaptations welding is long ,permanent, and warps. we stopped welding our frame after 2013 and its worked out really well for us. last year week 4 we realized our frame needed to be widened by half an inch. If it would have been welded we would have been stuck.
However, poorly welded frames can reduce the strength of key joints by a significant amount. Losing your temper with 6061 tubing is a huge difference in all measures of strength.
Welding is a good option IF you have access to it. as well if a well breaks at competition for any reason you have no way to quickly re weld and get your robot up and running again. I would highly encourage having a back up pre planned for any issues in your frame.
The next best option this year will probably be Gussets with 10-32 bolts through. With rivets and gussets you have the ability to determine which rivets or even bolts shear and replace the part with a larger bolt, or replacing the rivet with a small bolt.
with the amount of abuse that I see coming from defenses so far a very strong frame is going to be necessary this year in order to prevent bots from breaking every match.