Hi everyone,
My team is considering using plexiglass as the “walls” of our robot and to hold the electronic components to conserve space. The question is: what thickness of plexiglass can support what weight? Can anybody help us?
Thanks
P.S. This is the first post for both myself and my team. We are Team #4111 from Arizona and ASU Prep Academy.
You may want to use Lexan over PlexyGlass. We use 3/16 thick lexan for our electronic’s every year. but I believe you can also order something from AndyMark that has holes already in it for easy mounting.
Polycarbonate aka Lexan is far more impact resistant than PMMA/Plexiglas/Acrylic so it won’t shatter on an impact. It is pretty light so 3/16 thick wouldn’t be a bad choice.
AZ,
Plexiglass shatters with splinters when hit or bent sharply and the edges are sharp. Lexan and other polycarbonates can take the shock much better and are more appropriate for use on our robots. Many teams also used perf stock (aluminum) as it is easy to mount components using ty-wraps or simple hardware. It is easy to pop-rivet to frames and can be cut with hand held metal shears.
You could also try 1/4 inch clear polycarb corriboard. It is normally used for insulation but we stack two pieces together and use it for stuff. It holds 10-24 bolts nicely. Don’t drill or tap, just run them with a drill. It’llhold most things. However, for items like s CRio, you should solidly bolt it with washers on each side. Hope this helps.
Depending on how well you support it, I’ve mounted electronics to as thin as 0.060" (1/16") polycarbonate sheet before.
In order to successfully use thin sheet (whether plastic or sheet metal), you have to prevent it from “oil canning”, which is where the surface looks really wavy and anything mounted to it flops around.
Riveting a few strips of 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/16" wall aluminum angle to 0.060" polycarbonate can eliminate nearly all of the oil canning without breaking the weight budget.
Like everyone says, use polycarbonate instead of acrylic. But we usually use plywood for our electronics board, it’s really easy to attach the components with screws, you don’t have to worry about grounding issues (there might be a rule against having the cRio case contacting the metal robot frame), and plywood is stiff and light, as long as you use something like 3/8" to 1/2" thick.
We use a thin (1/16" thick or so) polycarbonate cover over the electronics, so we can see the blinky lights, and we put some thought into how the cover is mounted, so it’s easy to get into when we need to work on it. Velcro is helpful for that.
As Mr. Forbes said 1/4" Birch or similar plywood is a great solution, we use it every year as our base for mounting electronics. It paints easily and is much lighter than other materials of similar thickness. Most of our removable plastic panels are 1/32 polycarbonate sheeting simply mounted with industrial velcro.