Building Plastic Robot Platforms

Presented by Bill Green

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”

Types of plastic

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

Polyethylene Polypropylene Polystyrene Polyurethane PVC (polyvinyl chloride) Silicone

Cutting Plastic Most plastics come with a double sided protective covering

and should be kept on when cutting

Polishing Plastic Plastic that has been cut or scored usually has rough

edges

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!

Shaping Plastic Apply low localized heat

Other alternatives• Hair dryer• Oven

Gluing Plastic Most plastics aren’t really glued together – they’re

cemented

See the plastic bonding guide on my Beetlebots web page

Buying Plastic Hardware stores have limited selection

Yellow pages => Plastics – Retail

Have link on web page

Pekee Robot

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