My team is having trouble figured out how to attach L Shaped Bumpers to our robot. We already have a way to attach them on the side but we do not know how to attach it to the front.
This question is pretty much impossible to answer without a lot more information. What does your side attachment look like? What does your chassis look like? What is your manufacturing ability? (Can you weld? Do you have a CNC router? A milling machine? A bandsaw?) When you say “L Shaped” do you mean you’re doing four separate bumpers, with one on each corner? If so, how big are they?
@BordomBeThyName
The side attachment is a sheet of aluminum with four pegs welded onto it. The chassis has lightning holes on the track and wheel base. Our team has different members and mentors who are able to manufacture almost anything necessary for the robot. We have people who can weld. We own a CNC Router, CNC Mill, and a Bandsaw. By L Shaped I mean that we have two pieces of bumper in the shape of an L. On one side of the L is the aluminum plate with pegs and on the other is just plywood that is flush with the track.
Can you post a picture of what your talking about?
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@Guy_With_Dog I do not have a picture. Our bumpers are not completely built yet because we are still trying to come up with the best way to mount them.
Do you have a picture of the chassis?
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@Guy_With_Dog This is the general idea except at the corners it is connected.
Is there a reason that you are choosing to have your bumpers like this?
A lot of teams make one set of bumpers that cover the entire robot (Instead of 2 “L” shaped bumpers, it would be one rectangle.
I would suggest picking some mounting points that are open on your frame (2 per side). Have some L brackets that are attached to the bumpers and have some pin/bolt that attaches the L bracket to the frame.
@Guy_With_Dog There is no particular reasoning for this choice. We are still open to doing C shaped bumpers but we are concerned that if we take a front hit it will bow the front of the robot.
Look at how our bumpers are only one piece. It accomplishes the same thing while being more secure.
@Guy_With_Dog I’ll make sure to make that an option and present it to my team. Thank you.
Also, for what it’s worth, we’ve done C-shaped bumpers a few times and never had any complaints. It’s never resulted in a damaged chassis. Just for reference, here is a picture of a small corner bumper of ours on a previous robot. I don’t recommend the “corner bumpers” idea, but this image shows two ways that we have attached bumpers in the past. Don’t ask why we’re mixing the wingnut and latch methods here, but they both work just fine.
Sorry to change the topic a little but how difficult was it that year for you to change the bumpers? We were considering doing a one piece but settled with a 2 piece to just allow us to get them on and off easier.
Speaking as a team that likes to do one-piece bumpers, it’s not that hard IF you plan ahead a little bit. If you’ve got a full-circle set, the entire robot needs to stay inside while you’re putting them on; if you’ve got a C in there and you build a little flex into the backing you’ll be able to spread it out and deal with minor protrusions easier.
We can change in about 2 minutes if we’re going slow in a typical year.
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I’ve seen them go slow and be fast. depends on how you have them fastened. 3250 always have their bumper system working perfectly. If I’m not wrong, they use 2 pins in each corner to secure the bumpers. the go on and off in less than a minute.