Building Plastic Robot Platforms

1
Building Plastic Robot Platforms

• Presented by Bill Green

2
Advantages of Plastics

• Cheap!
• Certain plastics are extremely strong,
  approaching the tensile strength of such light
  metals as copper and aluminum
• Some plastic is unbreakable

3
Types of plastic

• ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)
• Acrylic
• Cellulosics
• Epoxies
• Nylon
• Phenolics
• Polycarbonate

• Polyethylene
• Polypropylene
• Polystyrene
• Polyurethane
• PVC (polyvinyl chloride)
• Silicone

4
Cutting Plastic

• Most plastics come with a double sided protective
  covering and should be kept on when cutting

5
Polishing Plastic

• Plastic that has been cut or scored usually has
  rough edges

6
Drilling Plastic

• Drilling speed should be about 500 to 1000 rpm
  for twist bits and 1000 to 2000 rpm for spade
  bits
• Always back the plastic with a wooden block
• Practice on a piece of scrap until you get the
  technique right!

7
Shaping Plastic

• Apply low localized heat
• Other alternatives
• Hair dryer
• Oven

8
Gluing Plastic

• Most plastics arent really glued together
  theyre cemented
• See the plastic bonding guide on my Beetlebots
  web page

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Buying Plastic

• Hardware stores have limited selection ?
• Yellow pages gt Plastics Retail
• Have link on web page

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Pekee Robot
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Dragonbot

• Pretty straightforward
• Only recommendation is to make sure to grease the
  gears and the shafts for quicker acceleration
• Be careful not to let any grease get into the
  exposed circuitry