Armour

[psycho_fling]

Hi everyone

I was wondering whether anyone could give advice on the subject of armour. My robot Psycho Fling has 6mm polycarbonate as armour, but Ive been told this weak against spinners. So I went on the search for recommendation about steel, I found some on ebay. Is this the best place to get it and what thickness would I need?

Thanks Alex

[philip_taylor]

You could look through the feather weight data base and see what other people have used. http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/discus/messages/13/87.htmlhttp://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/disc...ges/13/87.html

The search funtion up in the top right corner is very useful for finding previously posted information.

[typhoon_driver]

Well, I would always go with the hardox option, weighs the same as steel but a lot tougher and just as cheap. Only comes in a minimum of 4mm (3.2 but it is 3 or 4 times as much) which is the downside.

[big_nipper]

You could still stick with plastic, Polypro or other plastics wont shatter like polycarb can. We got a few sheets from Farnell at quite resonable prices, the thicker the better, but would recommend you clad it with some tougher material (steel/hardox/etc) where the spinners hit.

[jamesb]

see rampage for an excellent example of what mark just said

Polypropelyne is a very good material for working with, very easy to cut/shape. Spinners will get through it, but aslong as your major components arent against the armour you should be ok. Polyprop also flexes back into its origoinal shape and so spinner hits spear to heal themselves. If your components are close to the armour, i would suggest backing polyprop with thin steel.

[josh]

ive got 4mm polycarb round my bot will that last or should i put some 5mm ali round as well? and were can i get sheets of ali from

you dont need any armour if you can drive well enough...lol.
I think mines polypropelene, its probably most likely to be. Cant beat mystery plastic! lol. But my design aint the same as most peeps either, so, think its different for me.

[ewan]

I think youd be best off piling on some 8ish mm polypropelene if youve got the weight. Cheaper than ali plus it adds good impact absorbsion from those nasty spinners.

[typhoon_driver]

what you always have to bear in mind with armour, is that if you dont intend to fight spinners, dont bother putting on the armour to protect against them. You can easily back out of a fight with a spinner.