A car equipped with microcontrollers and a tiny radio-transmitter

[Chip Fetrow]

Actually, glued bodies are very common, and have ben around more than  
30 years.  Glue has MANY advantages.  For one, it weighs less.  More  
importantly, there are no problems with dissimilar metals.  Aluminum  
body panels can be glued to steel frames.  Rivets would cause  
corrosion, and welding is nearly impossible.

In the early 1980s, 3M sent me some samples of double sided stick  
tape.  It was stuck between materials.  The one I played with the most  
was a piece of this double sided tape between two layers of those  
metalized mylar strips with plenty of "tail" out of each end so I  
could grip it firmly.  Over several years I was able to eventually  
stretch the mylar, but I never defeated the adhesive.

I would sit at my desk on the phone, pulling on the tails.  It never  
failed.

Ambulances and fire trucks are assembled with this stuff.  The only  
down side is that the body panels cannot be easily removed for repair  
and re-installation.  The body panels must be destroyed to be removed.

I have to admit, I thought of buying some of that stuff in order to  
have some fun.  Imagine putting it on a door jam.  Now, you have the  
door that can never be opened.  Then again, I am too much of a law  
abiding goody-goody that would never do such a thing.

Much of the safety in vehicles is compression zones and "catches."    
Look around the hood hinges in your car.  You will find some hooks and  
pins which will keep the hood from coming back into the windshield, as  
an example.

Playing devil's advocate, on the other end of the spectrum, mass is  
king.  You have this very lightweight Tata car, and you are in trouble  
in a head-on collision with a Chevy Suburban.  OUCH!  Then again, that  
same Chevy Suburban has an issue in a head-on collision with a 80,000  
pound 18 wheel semi-tractor-trailer.

Don't sweat the glue.  The stuff is really amazing.  Just worry about  
mass differential.

--chip

On Jan 21, 2012, at 12:01 PM, tacos-request at amrad.org wrote:

> Message: 6
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:37:37 -0700
> From: Joseph Bento <joseph at kirtland.com>
> Subject: Re: A car equipped with microcontrollers and a tiny
> 	radio-transmitter
>
> The compressed air propulsion sounds intriguing, but a glued body?    
> It's more like "I look forward to ENDING my life in one of these."
>
> Joe, N6DGY