Author Topic: Material to use for holding components  (Read 1676 times)

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Offline SylvestreTopic starter

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Material to use for holding components
« on: January 31, 2012, 10:39:23 PM »
Hello everyone,

I am building a 150-250 lb (not sure depending on materials I use) search and rescue robot.  Right now I have square steel tubing as my frame.  The tubing is 3/4x 3/4 (14 gauge). 

I am trying to lighten the load a bit so I am debating what material to use as plating for mounting my electronics (batteries, motors).  The batteries weight a total of 80 lbs and the motors a total of 10 lbs.  So a a 95 (considering 5 lbs for other electronics) lb payload suspended on this base.

Polycarbonate or aluminium?  If possible could you provide recommended thickness because I have no experience with polycarbonate and I haven't used aluminium in a while.

Here is a photo of what the base looks like of where I'll be mounting my plate.

Note: I am mounting the batteries more towards the front of the frame rather than in the center.

Also the horizontal beams are equally spaced throughout the frame.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2012, 11:12:16 PM by Sylvestre »

Offline SylvestreTopic starter

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Re: Material to use for holding components
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2012, 06:18:40 PM »
Hello everyone,

I decided I am going to use aluminum on the bottom level (batteries, motors, etc ) and two pieces of polycarbonate on the top level (Axon II, motor driver, etc).  What thickness do you guys recommend for polycarbonate if I just need to hold a camera, motor driver, transmitter, etc (small things like that)?

Offline Gertlex

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Re: Material to use for holding components
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2012, 07:27:49 PM »
Going by the dimensions in the first post, 1/8" polycarb should be more than sufficient.  You could probably get away with 1/32" polycarb sheeting.  Also depends if you're cutting large holes in the sheet/plate.
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