HDPE thicknessthis

[Ds1638]

Hi guys,


what thickness of HDPE would you recommend for top a top plate ?, would you HDPE for a base plate or mild steel ?

regards
dumble team

[Garfie489]

Depends on a few factors.

Weight class
Is it structural
Robot type (rambots need more armour generally).

More information, the better the answer

[maddox10]

1mm steel= dustcover. Weights as much as 8mm HDPE.

8mm HDPE does that job a lot better.

Hardox 3.2mm thick =25mm HDPE. I know what I would use.

[Ds1638]

How hard is it to weld mild steel to hardox

[Ds1638]

Iam looking to use 30mm 3mm wall mild steel square tubing for the frame, it's going to start as a rambot at first. Iam just thumping my head about the front wheel, it's rear wheel driven. Any ideas ? I was looking at a solid steel sphere wheel.

[typhoon_driver]

How hard is it to weld mild steel to hardox - Not hard at all. Regular stick welder will do it no bother.

3mm thickness on the tubing is probably a little OTT. You do a better job dropping it to 2mm and having more armour in it's place.

[maddox10]

I agree with Gary.

Welding hardox to mild steel. No problem whatsoever. The welds and the mild steel will be the weak parts tough.

If the box section is protected or purely a "structure" to get the hardox in the right position, the wall thickness isn't the main thing, and only your skill in welding will decide the thickness.

Also, the bigger the section the stronger for the weight it is, even with a thin wall.

[Garfie489]

Also just a point to add incase your not sure, Hardox is a type of steel. It has special properties which are well suited to our application - but for the purpose of weight calculation and so on, you can approximate it to being mild steel.

[Prophet Of Doom]

What about HDPE armour for a heavyweight? What would you say is minimum thickness?

[Theo]

25mm i should say, though you're probably better off with Hardox

[RogueTwoRobots]

We had 20mm (two layers of 10mm) on top of 5mm mild steel on Coyote. Carbide managed to get through it all in a single hit, deforming the armour but not pulling it off the robot. Harder materials can be better but HDPE is still good for some shock absorption. Just do what we did and carry some spare material as you'll probably need to replace it frequently if you plan on fighting spinners.

[maddox10]

25mm i should say, though you're probably better off with Hardox

25mm HDPE=3mm Hardox. And that's not good enough either. Team RCC used 30mm HDPE on Obsidian, and that wasn't enough.

HDPE as armor is "consumable". It works, but will need frequent replacements. And you'll need a lot of air behind it.