Where should I brace my drive train? Should I do it in the middle, or the front and back? I don’t want to do it the middle so I can have space to hot swap motors, but Im not sure if I should remove the bracing in the middle and move them to the front and back.
You need two braces. Place them as far apart as possible. I would do as far front as possible and then the very back with braces over each side of the drive in the front. A back and middle brace would be fine however that is not ideal.
Repeat after me, triangles are your friend. So think about how the cross braces can turn into triangles. (And there are triangle parts that make things pretty ridgid.
How are you going to set up the motors so they can be hot swapped? That’s a pretty unique thing to do in VIQ. Most of them involve using these to help support the motors.
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We used one brace to initally hold our halves together, one more to mount the goal clamp, one more for the goal to run up onto, and our intake also holds the front together
Might be a little bit overkill, but it works
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@26163A Due to your post history, I assume you are talking about V5RC. Careful how you categorize topics (this is in VIQ, a completely different one).
However, to answer your question, divide your robot into thirds, and on the broder between those thirds is where I recommend you put your crossbraces. Ideally, one of the cross braces should be on top, and the other should be on the bottom, with at least one of them being a c-channel.
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So three cross braces? Or two?
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Well now that I know you are cross posting V5 items into the VIQ thread, mayby 4 or 5 braces. I like to be extra secure, so I may go for as many as 7 braces. 
Ya know what would really help? A picture! Maybe two or three to see what you are talking about. That would keep everyone from just throwing numbers out. And now that I think about it, 8, definitely 8. 4 across each corner and then two as a corner to corner brace and the last two from mid sides to the center of the corner to corner ones. Yep, that’s the ticket!!!
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IQ answer: three if possible. And remember that two 1x20s mounted at 90° are very strong for their weight. Robot shapes and sizes can vary greatly this year, so I would say that every robot has different needs.
VRC answer: two full length, one on top one on bottom, plus polycarb or standoffs securing the front and back of each wheel channel. And maybe one partial crossbar for the mogo clamp and one for the intake ramp.
As a short-term customer of the orthodontics service, I prefer having approximately one per tooth to ensure security. (The molars don’t always need them). If clarification is needed, I would be more than happy to provide pictures.
However, if you are doing the Invisalign thing, go ahead and disregard this.
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Two at the least. Here’s a rough CAD of my drivetrain, for example.
Due to this year’s challenge requiring mechanisms on both sides of your robot (mobile goal clamp and ring intake), you can see that I put the braces so it roughly divide the robot into thirds. One is a c-channel on top of the robot, and one is an HS axle on the bottom of the robot (though I recommend using a c-channel if possible).
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Probably 3 will be plenty, with one for each third of the robot, but adding more should be fine if you need the area to build off.
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I’m a huge fan of 276-2576 the Angle Corner Gusset. While they are expensive at $5 a each, they are great to put into corners to add lot of strength. Highly recommended for frames and getting uprights to be rigid.
There are also three kinds of 90 degree gussets out there, They are also a quick way to get some extra strength without needing to cross over the robot.
(Thanks for the picture, a big help!!!)
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