The Versachassis application guides suggest using #10 screws instead of rivets on the short side of the Versachassis gussets. Anybody know why? Is it a strength issue? Or is the idea “Gosh, it would be nice to be able to take this apart without drilling out the rivets”?
See, for example, page 7 of this: https://content.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/pdf/217-8000-2+2.pdf
We used those gussets last year on our frame. We didn’t have any issue using pop rivets on the gussets on the front/rear bars, but those were supported on the bottom by our belly pan as well. Our bumper standoffs, however, weren’t so lucky… pop rivets did not work well there and were being replaced often. We made sure to stock up on long 10-32 bolts this year so we can avoid that issue.
I always assumed this was a strength issue. You want the versablock to be very near to the end of the frame rail, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for fasteners. If you can only fit two fasteners, then bolts are going to be stronger than rivets.
If you are incorporating a bellypan that rivets to all of the frame rails, then you can probably get away with using rivets for the corner gussets as well. A bellypan is structural and takes a lot of the load that these fasteners would otherwise bear.