pic: First attempt at Sheet Metal Chasis



This is my first attempt at a sheet metal drive train. Please give your thoughts so i can improve it.

1.) Do you know how you will mount the gear boxes or transmissions?
2.) Do you plan on tensioning the chain? If so how?
3.) how do you plan to assemble the pieces? welds? rivets? screw?
4.) I like how you planned out the chain paths
5.) You might be able to make the side plates shorter to lose weight.

But looking good so far keep on working, this is how you truly get good at CAD!!

Exactly what I was thinking. I’ve done 10 ish Chassis’ now and I keep improving each time.

You may want to change your lightening holes. You can make triangle instead, they make your chassis as strong as it could be. With rectangle cut outs you will have more bowing.

Definitely cut down on the bottom off the chassis. its just extra weight. I usually have the axles 1" from the bottom of the chassis. still strong, and lose that extra and useless material.

If you are gonna desgn something, make sure you have all your parts needed for it. You are gonna want to put transmissions in there. you will most likely not have enough material to mount them after. Transmission Supports/cross members are a good idea too.

Mka esure you design to your resources. Even If you don’t want to build this you should practice building to your resources. Like do you have a sponsors or something to cut the material. And a way to bend it. You should ask yourself these questions while designing.

Good Luck! :smiley: keep practicing!

Sorry if there is bad grammer. wrote this in a rush.

Do those wheels even touch the ground? The gussets suggest that the answer is no, and it would be helpful if they did.

Looks good for a first time, however as others have mentioned you need space for a transmission in there, in our sheetmetal chassis we made mounting holes for the gearbox between the center wheel and the end and powered it via 35 roller chain.
Also be sure to leave sufficient ground clearance, many flat field frc games…aren’t (bumps around towers in 2011, etc).
What thickness, material and bend radius are you using?

Thanks for all the input…I’m am working on the gear box mounting, and thr wheels do touch the ground but with very little clarence. I am using 1/8 in aluminum and a 2mm radius.

1/2)not sure about mounting gear boxes yet or chain tensioning

3)will be assembled with rivets

I will change the lightening holes to triangles and cut down on the bottom thanks for the insight

1/8 inch almuminum with a 2mm bend radius