Author Topic: Foam board  (Read 3201 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline gamefreakTopic starter

  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 543
  • Helpful? 2
  • Robo-Enthusiast
Foam board
« on: April 13, 2009, 07:44:42 AM »
Has anyone ever used project foam board as a building material? Im thinking of building a small robot using 3/8" foam board as the main structural material. I know that it can be glued together to create the chassis but what other ways other than glue can be used to mount the components to it?

By foam board i mean the stuff used in schools to mount your presentations on.
All hail Rodney, the holy 555 timer
And Steve said: "Let there be lead!"

Offline GearMotion

  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 489
  • Helpful? 24
  • Two decades+ of Embedded Design
    • CircuitGizmos
Re: Foam board
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2009, 08:25:40 AM »
Often called "foam core".

And yes, people have built robots from it.

Offline gamefreakTopic starter

  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 543
  • Helpful? 2
  • Robo-Enthusiast
Re: Foam board
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2009, 09:44:42 AM »
So what is a good mounting scheme on Foarmcore? I would rather not glue my expensive electronics to it.
All hail Rodney, the holy 555 timer
And Steve said: "Let there be lead!"

Offline Razor Concepts

  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,856
  • Helpful? 53
    • RazorConcepts
Re: Foam board
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2009, 10:23:19 AM »
Velco and double sided foam tape work great.

Offline GearMotion

  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 489
  • Helpful? 24
  • Two decades+ of Embedded Design
    • CircuitGizmos
Re: Foam board
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2009, 11:19:23 AM »
You can drill/punch a hole in foam core for mounting. Use wide washers (fender washers) on either side of the foam core. The wide washers will compress against an larger area of the foam core than just a bolt head and nut.

It certainly depends a lot on the size and type of robot, but I have seen a flat robot base made of a double layer of foam core. Motors were mounted using wide washers. The robot was made with foam core, rather than plastic and metal and gained rigidity with foam core cross sections. It was a light robot. Assembly was done with hot glue and tape.

Offline gamefreakTopic starter

  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 543
  • Helpful? 2
  • Robo-Enthusiast
Re: Foam board
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2009, 04:05:19 PM »
Alright, sounds easy enough. Thanks.
All hail Rodney, the holy 555 timer
And Steve said: "Let there be lead!"

Offline Admin

  • Administrator
  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 11,703
  • Helpful? 173
    • Society of Robots
Re: Foam board
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2009, 07:57:41 PM »
Quote
Often called "foam core".
Not quite, as its sandwiched between cardboard.

Another option: fold and staple parts together.

Offline GearMotion

  • Supreme Robot
  • *****
  • Posts: 489
  • Helpful? 24
  • Two decades+ of Embedded Design
    • CircuitGizmos
Re: Foam board
« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2009, 02:53:40 PM »
Quote
Often called "foam core".
Not quite, as its sandwiched between cardboard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foamboard