Chassis Materials Study

After stopping off in the machine shop our team learned that the most efficient material to use to build our robot would be Acrylic.  The machine shop’s capabilities to machine Acrylic are quite vast.  Acrylic bends when it is heated, to be shaped into any desired angle with minimal machining, and it is very inexpensive to purchase in extruded rods or sheets. 

                    -These are typical examples of sheet acrylic, the material is available in a variety of colors

                Acrylic’s physical properties are perfect for our application because it is very easily cut, it is more flexible than glass, it is more shock resistant than glass, it is abrasion resistant, and it is easily cleaned.  Our team will be able to utilize the ease of cutting that the acrylic offers.  We will be able to take advantage of the laser cutter at the Drexel machining shop as well as band saws and potentially hand saws.  We will also benefit greatly from the milling, drilling, threading, and tapping. 

                The team envisions the manufacturing process of the acrylic to encompass a large sheet of acrylic to be fed into the laser cutter, where it will be cut to precise dimensions.  The pieces then will undergo a series of drilling and tapping holes for screws to assemble the bot into a 3d shape.  The project is limited by the capabilities of the laser cutter and are restricted to ¼ inch acrylic at the thickest.  The team is currently researching the most efficient and precise ways to cut out the acrylic components for the chassis of the robot as well as the most effective use of either screws and/or epoxies to secure the components together. 

     This is an example of acrylic that has been cut with a laser cutter.  The edges of the acrylic are smooth and precise, this could potentially be the best way to create a chassis with our specific design constraints.