Building Materials

[I D Miller]

What types of building materials do you use?

For Example

I'm a small time robotics builder thought would love the opurtunity to do more. But Time and money are an issue with anything these days. I'm working with the Vex Line of stuff. But I'm slowly growing out of using it all the time. I'm implementing custom parts some parts like differentials from a T-Maxx. :) Going to be awesome when i finish it looks crude but functional. Anyway. here is a list of what i work with

All Thread rod 8/32 and 6 /32 Home Depot / Lowes

Aluminum Tube and Dowels various sizes from Home Depot / Lowes

Nylon Square and Round stock Various sizes McMaster Carr ( not to cheap but not too outragous)

I would like to make a Geared C-beam But I would some kind of liquid plastic compound to pour into a mold. something that is cheap and inexpensive. Maybe it's not called liquid plastic but I'm hoping that one will know what I am talking about.

I'm open to ideas. And maybe when people reply to this thread it will give some one an idea about how they can fix a problem they have. Can't count how many times i've sat looking at a problema nd the answer was sitting beside me laughing at me. and sometimes all it took was a walk outside a picture, or someone talking about somethign totally off subject and it came it me. Anyway good luck out there and remember safety first. nothing better than keeping your fingers and eyes.

[Kevin Berry]

On combat bots, we like to use Ultra High Molecular Weight (UHMW) Polyethelyne. This is easy to work with, takes damage well, and isn't too heavy. I get mine from two places: McMaster Carr, and Acme Industrial Surplus.

At www.mcmaster.com, type UHMW in the search field, then click on UHMW Polyethylene. A nice page comes up with much information on different characteristics. I use standard UHMW sheet. For price reference, a square foot of white 1/4" runs about 7 bucks.

Acme Industrial Surplus (www.acmeindustrialsurplus.com) is a Central Florida surplus heaven that carries all sorts of UHMW, polycarbonate, and metal stocks. Their web site is minimal but they answer email & phone calls right away and they LOVE robot people.

Polycarbonate ("Lexan") is what we use for arena walls, and armor. This is NOT ACRYLIC OR PLEXIGLASS. Poly cuts, not shatters. It is, unfortunately, UV sensitive so it can't be used outside for long. (There are some types now being used as hurricane shutters down here so I assume they may have developed a type that is UV tolerant).