Team Expat - Beetleweight Adventures

[Ellis]

Will film a test video in the morning.

And yes this is far too heavy, at over 500g for this alone. I think I can deal with that though.

[Liftoff]

Just an idea which will save you weight and the hassle of bending the steel...why dont you use a rectangular section aluminium, and bolt on two angles on it for holding the hdpe...It will be much easier and accurate imho

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[PJ-27]

When I first saw this I assumed it was Ali box section.

[PJ-27]

You could use the wheel surrounds as armour too.

[Ellis]

Just an idea which will save you weight and the hassle of bending the steel...why dont you use a rectangular section aluminium, and bolt on two angles on it for holding the hdpe...It will be much easier and accurate imho

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That would be the alternative plan. I did it this way because I have the steel already, and I'm hoping to go as far as possible without spending a dime on this particular build. I could either do the box section trick (if I can find it big enough, which won't be very cheap) or build it out of HDPE/Nylon, which would still be lighter.

I intend to essentially mount everything off these steel plates, the base and top won't be much more than any 1mm plastic, to hold the wires in!

I do have some nice red anodised checkerplate ali which I could use, just a tad reluctant to use it because it's so pretty. :P

[Liftoff]

what size are you after? ali rectangular section comes in a variety of sizes and doesn't cost much, I'd say for what you need it'll cost you £10

[swanaldo]

Ellis...I have some 1.2mm Ti...would you like some. I can bring it to Deeside?

[Ellis]

@Chris, the inside space is 80x40. Probably a standard...

@Shane, yessy pleasey! Discussed that elsewhere.

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Here's a little test video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RKCRsMOUnU

[Liftoff]

This should just about do for you, 80x40x4mm ali section:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Box-Tube-80mm-x-40mm-x-4mm-Wallx250mm-Long-/160326529256?pt=UK_BOI_Metalworking_Milling_Weldin g_Metalworking_Supplies_ET&hash=item255434b0e8

Should be strong enough for your use as it's 6000 series alloy.
Btw, good job with the testing, really interesting.

[Ellis]

Thanks for the link. Price seems very reasonable. I could pick some of that up for stock whilst in the UK, got plenty of baggage weight to play with! However for now I'm just going to put the steel frame aside, even though I like its strength, and make a simple boxy HDPE chassis. Don't have time for anything more. I expect a Gonzales 2 to happen at some point, in which case I'll have more time to think about the shape.

I didn't get much done tonight, but I got a new wheel on the go. Same concept, but a lot stronger, and with a much thicker and more durable tyre material.

[Ellis]

This morning the post office really coughed up the goods!





The new additions are the disc itself, the shaft visible, and the plate of ti it's all sitting on. Nice doing business, Mario!

The bearings I bought are going to be a nice tap-fit, that's one less thing to worry about.

Also might as well throw in a pic of the Gonzales' new wheels...



Today's task is simply to get a move on with anything!

[Ellis]

Post about the wheel-making process up on the site!

Have cut some of the HDPE:



Big robot is big.

[Ellis]

Starting to put it all together, tomorrow should be a bolt-up-fest.



It's all just sitting together save the bolts visible on the front. Didn't make much progress today, or it didn't feel like it. I did make my own m4 barrel nuts, though, which I'll be using to hold on the ti front:



I will be getting some decent m4 bolts, as the ones I'm working with at the moment are made out of spray-painted cheese.

[webby]

As always, looks awsome! Now just waiting for the uncontrollable test drive!!!

[Max]

Looks amazing, what escs are you using? Botbitz?