1. Building Plastic Robot Platforms Presented by Bill Green

2. 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”

3. Types of plastic ABS ( acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ) Acrylic Cellulosics Epoxies Nylon Phenolics Polycarbonate Polyethylene Polypropylene Polystyrene Polyurethane PVC ( polyvinyl chloride ) Silicone

4. Cutting Plastic Most plastics come with a double sided protective covering and should be kept on when cutting

5. Polishing Plastic Plastic that has been cut or scored usually has rough edges

6. 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!

7. Shaping Plastic Apply low localized heat Other alternatives Hair dryer Oven

8. Gluing Plastic Most plastics aren’t really glued together – they’re cemented See the plastic bonding guide on my Beetlebots web page

9. Buying Plastic Hardware stores have limited selection  Yellow pages => Plastics – Retail Have link on web page

10. Pekee Robot

11. 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