After the disasterous performance of both the 3d printed chassis and the heat-set inserts, I moved back to UHMW for Highlander’s chassis. However this time, I had the pieces CNC’ed by my friend Matthew Tompkins! Only the side profiles were machined though, so I still had to drill and thread holes for the screws myself.
The baseplate has been upgraded from aluminum to carbon fiber. I made this plate the same way I make made my old chassis pieces: By printing out a drawing of the CAD, gluing it to the material, and cutting it out.
Wedges and garolite top armor were made the same way.
I really need to start using CAD to estimate the weight of the robot instead of just guessing, because once again the robot is horribly overweight. I ended up replacing the top armor with tape and cutting the back half of the chassis off since I’m out of time. It’s a bold move, but as long as I keep the front pointed at my opponent I should be ok.
