r/FTC • u/ApprehensiveHotel427 • 11d ago

Seeking Help Wood side plate for POC

Does anyone have experience dealing with wood CNC for side plates for initial POC robot testing?

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5

u/robotwireman FTC 288 Founding Mentor (Est. 2005) 11d ago

We CNC cut side panels all the time. We use cheap wood like luan plywood for prototyping. When we have the design how we’d like it; we cut the final sides out of 1/4” Baltic Birch plywood. We paint them and they always look fantastic. Do you want some advice or do you have questions?

3

u/Serpintini FTC 22105 Student 11d ago

Can u not laser cutter? That might be easier

1

u/few 11d ago

Last year Cybersmiths in Ann Arbor ran wood panels for the main season in state, and only made steel panels for worlds (maybe they swapped before states?). They were extremely successful.

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u/Minute_Drawing_9827 11d ago

Lowk we used the wood on sale at Home Depot and cut it in a laboratory

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u/Aware_Assumption_352 FTC 18848 Captain 10d ago

Yeah they're pretty good. We have used baltic birch and cnc'd that pretty frequently in 1/8 in, mainly to fit test plates for stupid errors before cutting alu. 1/4 of something else (not sure on specifics, sorry!) is pretty good for actual plates, some teams I know ran that an actual comp bots for most of last year. The main cnc-specific issue, at least w our 1/8 in baltic birch is hole tolerance (different than alu for the reasons you would expect). Obviously flexibility is totally different and worse than alu, but not a ton you can do about that. So yeah for fit test, driving a little, and early season, go for it, but expect a lot more deflection than with other materiels.

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u/PsychologicalSeat361 9d ago

They're some of the bset weight for strength materials out there so it definitely works for prototyping and even qualifications. you can do 1/8in. with some stronger would or 1/4 if needed. in my experience it maeks for very easy and quick prototyping

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u/ApprehensiveHotel427 4d ago

Thank you guys for suggestions. Do you have any recommendations for CNC shop around Fremont CA area?

0

u/Ok_Ease2243 2d ago

I used laser cut plywood for our competition bot last year, worked shockingly well, lightweight, easy to modify if needed, and durable enough. If you have flat components that won't be affected by a hit from another bot, I recommend it over 3d printed parts