Given the choice of PC case steel and 12mm plywood, I'd take the ply every time! In fact my latest bot has just been upgraded with some high-tech plywood :) http://www.robowars.org/forum/viewto...=74&start=7395
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Given the choice of PC case steel and 12mm plywood, I'd take the ply every time! In fact my latest bot has just been upgraded with some high-tech plywood :) http://www.robowars.org/forum/viewto...=74&start=7395
We destroy PC cases in demo's because its easy and looks good :-p It wont survive even if you armour it up later as the force will just be transmitted through the armour and into the frame in the middle which will get crushed.
Alu checker plate also won't survive full combat, it might work as top armour if you are willing to replace it occasionally but you best option is 16-20mm HDPE for the sides and 10-12mm HDPE for a base. And its nice and cheap too. As nick suggested you can use wood to mock up the build, test it out then build it again in plastic for real.
As others have said you should forget about using the computer panels, they won't be strong enough.
Look at HDPE, it's great for featherweights as it's light, fairly strong and easy to work with. I'm now on the 3rd version of my Featherweight and i'm still using an all hdpe construction. I join mine together with barrel nuts and m6 bolts and it's as strong as anything else out there.
If you wanna build a feather start with the live events. My first robot used pc cases for armour.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps4e27b000.jpg
Also have a wooden feather going together currently...
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psdyetxirz.jpg
Yes they're naff but I have yet to come home with non-functional robots so must be doing summat right...