Chassis

[Hopelessnewbie]

What are you guys using for your chassis? How heavy is it? How will the overall weight impact the performance?

[LittleMissNyan]

I'm not sure if I'm one to give advice, seeing this is my first year doing this, but I would say wood is a good choice - it's pretty light, strong, and is easy to work with compared to, say, metal. Our Battery Buggy is using pegboard with these long metal bracket thingies on the side to hold the axles. As for overall weight impact, I don't think it would make too much of an impact, but the scoring equation is weighted more towards accuracy than speed and I don't think there is a huge weight difference between chassis materials.
(There's also this -> https://scioly.org/tests/files/batteryb ... _notes.pdf)

[MadCow2357]

I'm not sure if I'm one to give advice, seeing this is my first year doing this, but I would say wood is a good choice - it's pretty light, strong, and is easy to work with compared to, say, metal. Our Battery Buggy is using pegboard with these long metal bracket thingies on the side to hold the axles. As for overall weight impact, I don't think it would make too much of an impact, but the scoring equation is weighted more towards accuracy than speed and I don't think there is a huge weight difference between chassis materials.
(There's also this -> https://scioly.org/tests/files/batteryb ... _notes.pdf)

Haha that's my guide, glad people have finally found it . Still not sure why the banebots photo got messed up, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

To address the question of weight affecting performance...
If you have a lighter chassis, less force is required for it to be pushed off course. If you have a heavier chassis, more force is required to push it off course. That force, in my experience, would be drift. Thus a heavier Buggy would be less susceptible to "drift".

However, more force is also needed to stop a heavy vehicle than a light vehicle, so if you don't have a good enough braking system, the heavy vehicle will continue to "go" without stopping for a few extra centimeters. That's what happened last season, my first buggy had trouble stopping smoothly. The back wheel would lock, and the motor would be off, but the inertial force of the vehicle was still too much, and the vehicle hopped (no joke) like 10-20 more cm. Not cool, that messed up my distance score a lot (Luckily, my Black Panther buggy did much better). A lighter vehicle could stop with less force, so in a way it's braking can be much more smooth. Keep in mind though, the gravitational pull on a heavy buggy would be greater than the gravitational pull on a light buggy. Thus, there would be more frictional force on a heavy buggy than a light one. So you also have to factor that in when deciding to make your buggy be on the heavier or lighter side. I believe it's all about finding a balance.

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert, I'm just explaining based on my own experiences. So the stuff I just said could be really really wrong...

Windu, could you clear this up?

[MoMoney$$$;)0)]

Hey people,

I was wondering what type of aluminum rods are used in the frame of the battery buggy. I know that some Buggy's use there weird 4 sided aluminum rods with like these smallish curves/slits in them. I was wondering what they're called, and where I can get them? Thanks!

[MadCow2357]

Hey people,

I was wondering what type of aluminum rods are used in the frame of the battery buggy. I know that some Buggy's use there weird 4 sided aluminum rods with like these smallish curves/slits in them. I was wondering what they're called, and where I can get them? Thanks!

These?
https://www.servocity.com/x-rail
Never used them, though ServoCity parts are always high quality and useful. Personally I have bought more than a few sets of gears from them over the last year. Have you not started building yet?

[builder83]

I'm not sure if I'm one to give advice, seeing this is my first year doing this, but I would say wood is a good choice - it's pretty light, strong, and is easy to work with compared to, say, metal. Our Battery Buggy is using pegboard with these long metal bracket thingies on the side to hold the axles. As for overall weight impact, I don't think it would make too much of an impact, but the scoring equation is weighted more towards accuracy than speed and I don't think there is a huge weight difference between chassis materials.
(There's also this -> https://scioly.org/tests/files/batteryb ... _notes.pdf)

Haha that's my guide, glad people have finally found it . Still not sure why the banebots photo got messed up, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

To address the question of weight affecting performance...
If you have a lighter chassis, less force is required for it to be pushed off course. If you have a heavier chassis, more force is required to push it off course. That force, in my experience, would be drift. Thus a heavier Buggy would be less susceptible to "drift".

However, more force is also needed to stop a heavy vehicle than a light vehicle, so if you don't have a good enough braking system, the heavy vehicle will continue to "go" without stopping for a few extra centimeters. That's what happened last season, my first buggy had trouble stopping smoothly. The back wheel would lock, and the motor would be off, but the inertial force of the vehicle was still too much, and the vehicle hopped (no joke) like 10-20 more cm. Not cool, that messed up my distance score a lot (Luckily, my Black Panther buggy did much better). A lighter vehicle could stop with less force, so in a way it's braking can be much more smooth. Keep in mind though, the gravitational pull on a heavy buggy would be greater than the gravitational pull on a light buggy. Thus, there would be more frictional force on a heavy buggy than a light one. So you also have to factor that in when deciding to make your buggy be on the heavier or lighter side. I believe it's all about finding a balance.

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert, I'm just explaining based on my own experiences. So the stuff I just said could be really really wrong...

Windu, could you clear this up?

That is a good guide Madcow! Saw my aluminum beast in there from last year. I am still using aluminum (cheap, strong, light enough, easy) would only use carbon fiber otherwise. 3d printing a ton of connections etc this year has been fun.

Also agree on the weight advice. I made a balsa buggy last year for fun and that thing kicked all over the place. A little weight is nice. Lotta ways to do it. I think wood is a fine choice if you are not going to print connections.

[windu34]

Haha that's my guide, glad people have finally found it . Still not sure why the banebots photo got messed up, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

To address the question of weight affecting performance...
If you have a lighter chassis, less force is required for it to be pushed off course. If you have a heavier chassis, more force is required to push it off course. That force, in my experience, would be drift. Thus a heavier Buggy would be less susceptible to "drift".

However, more force is also needed to stop a heavy vehicle than a light vehicle, so if you don't have a good enough braking system, the heavy vehicle will continue to "go" without stopping for a few extra centimeters. That's what happened last season, my first buggy had trouble stopping smoothly. The back wheel would lock, and the motor would be off, but the inertial force of the vehicle was still too much, and the vehicle hopped (no joke) like 10-20 more cm. Not cool, that messed up my distance score a lot (Luckily, my Black Panther buggy did much better). A lighter vehicle could stop with less force, so in a way it's braking can be much more smooth. Keep in mind though, the gravitational pull on a heavy buggy would be greater than the gravitational pull on a light buggy. Thus, there would be more frictional force on a heavy buggy than a light one. So you also have to factor that in when deciding to make your buggy be on the heavier or lighter side. I believe it's all about finding a balance.

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert, I'm just explaining based on my own experiences. So the stuff I just said could be really really wrong...

Windu, could you clear this up?

This is all pretty accurate, and a heavier vehicle will have more inertia and resist understeer/oversteer more than a lighter vehicle. The only reason to NOT make a heavy device is for speed/acceleration. As for braking, it is definitely not a good idea to just lock your axle with a wingnut when running at full speed. Having a spring or some other method to provide a braking force before locking your axle is the better route to go.

[builder83]

Hey people,

I was wondering what type of aluminum rods are used in the frame of the battery buggy. I know that some Buggy's use there weird 4 sided aluminum rods with like these smallish curves/slits in them. I was wondering what they're called, and where I can get them? Thanks!

I used 5/8 in deck railings that were free and left over in my garage! The slotted kinds are used in making shelves. You should be able to get either at a hardware store.

Also use tinkercad in response to your other question. Our high school has solidworks but tinkercad has been easy for me to learn and use.

[invisiblebanana]

I've heard mixed opinions about the importance of flexibility in the chassis; what do you all think?