I'm planning on building a horizontal spinner for robowars this year, and I'm looking for advice on what to make the weapon out of. I've looked for sources of S7 tool steel, Interalloy seems to be the only place in Australia that sells it. Are there any alternatives to S7 that are more available or cheaper? I've also considered titanium with steel teeth which would probably be better for weight but I haven't found a good supplier. Where do other builders get their materials from and what materials do you use?
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 9481
Location: Where you least expect
Helloo, Most here use hardox / bisalloy 500 because it comes prehardened and many places stock it (precision oxycut, australian waterjet cutting, action laser etc).
S7 can be had but hard to find someone that can heat treat it well for you. And it is questionable not that much stronger than the hardox for the effort anyway
Any advice on what thickness to use? I've been designing with 25mm in mind because that's the smallest thickness of S7 that Interalloy sells. How thick should I go with the Hardox/Bisaloy?
Thu Jan 12, 2017 11:43 am
Daniel Experienced Roboteer
Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 2729
Location: Gold Coast
That depends on how heavy you want the weapon to be and what diameter as well. Try to aim for a 3kg weapon with about a 300mm diameter for a disc. And then see what thicknesses match.
A rough guess to begin with would be 20mm.
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 11802
Location: Sydney, NSW
Having used S7 in horizontal spinners - just don't do it! There are no local heat treating businesses that understand how to process S7 and it will be so brittle that it will shatter after the first big impact - been there done that . Like Glen mentioned, Bisalloy or Hardox are nearly as hard and much easier to work with in Australia.
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Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:58 pm
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