Saturday, January 22, 2011

Chassis Holes and Bumpers




Awesome days flow into amazing nights in the Robotics room!  We had nearly a full crew for most of the day and well into the evening, accomplishing many critical tasks.

Cutting the aluminum bracketry for the chassis is always a painstaking job - especially with a bandsaw, but team members pitched in and finished the task with only some slight mis-cuts or sizing errors.








Sanding the same thin aluminum stock to finished dimensions for the bracketry is tedious, but many hands make light work.







Earlier in the afternoon, a test mockup of the electrical, drivetrain and battery were placed into a sample chassis frame to get a visual idea of how things are fitting together, helping to layout the electrical components for the robot controls.





Maintaining the build room equipment and machinery is crutial to productivity. If a piece of equipment is not well maintained, it can mean hours of delays, when a simple 'tune-up' or a few minutes of maintenance can keep a tool performing well when it is needed most! 





'Holes, holes, holes and of course, more holes' was the key phrase tonight.  We performed what seemed to be endless drilling of holes in all shapes and sizes - most were for the attachment of axles, motors, and bumpers.  Everyone got a turn using one of the three drill presses we have in the build room. We were able to finish up the attachment holes in the chassis frame and brackets.





Finally, last but not least, building the wooden bumper supports that will attach the foam 'Noodle' shock absorbers to the robot frame provided an excellent oportunity to learn about various wood fasteners and the bumper applications in the rules for competition.











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