The Riptide Beetleweight Chronicles

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Seeing the (albeit brief clips of) Beetleweights at this weekend's event has made me get a little bit inspired to start the beetleweights again, I've given up on anything too extravagant for now (I have no tools) so I'm going to build a mini HardWired 2 out of Hardox. Because, you know, hardox is too legit and whatnot.

It's going to serve the same purpose as its featherweight counterpart, in that it should be a supposedly low maintenance drive-all-day brick that will always be able to fight. Might end up doing a Beetleweight vertical bar spinner too at some point, but I'll see after this one's done. Previous plans were faaaaaaar too ambitious considering my skillset so I'm reeling it in a bit!

But yeah, basic plan is to make this entire thing out of 3.2mm hardox/stainless base, welded, and magnets on the bottom. It'll be tiny as well, which is why I'll be able to get it in weight hopefully. Was playing about with the idea of brushless drive, but I'll just stick with the 1000rpm Beetle motors that everyone loves, maybe on 4s or something. Characteristically huge battery too.

Will get sketches up soon where I can, but just imagine HardWired 2 but smaller and more poorly made, and that's not far off

[Niels - Team K.a.L.M.]

Sorry to shut you down already but hardox isn't allowed as armour to keep things interesting (for active weapon users)

[mrsam]

Just make it out of Stainless or Ti, you could go for pretty damn thick Ti if it's as small as i'm thinking.

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Is it not? I keep hearing alternating things haha

Even if it is, I might just make one out of Hardox anyway and occasionally run it in whiteboards, I wanted to almost perfectly scale down HW2's relative idiotic-ness.

Thick ti would be possible, but expensive, that's the problem haha. It will be tiny though, so much so it'd probably almost pass for an antweight if my current calculations are right... It'll be tiny compared to the rest of the beetles, that much is for sure!

[plargen]

Think u can still use carbon steel/tool steel

[leorcc]

If it is that small just use tool steel. Very durable and similar in weight.

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Tool steel might be a nice idea.

Failing that, Stainless could also be very viable...

[Revsmin]

Sorry to shut you down already but hardox isn't allowed as armour to keep things interesting (for active weapon users)

That rule is gone to my knowledge... it was only there when Swanny had the arena.

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It sounds like it's just an encouraged rule rather than one that's actually enforced. Though I do understand the sentiment entirely...

That said, looking at the damage both Newton and RPM have put out (from what I've seen so far anyways) I'm sure Hardox won't be as indestructible as everyone makes out for long haha.

Still, I'll see what weight I have to work with, it might be that there's actually better options anyway, like Ti or even a tool steel shell... I don't know really!

But the dimensions roughly at the minute are about 140 x 120 x 35-ish. All rough, but I'm still trying to decide on a battery so I'm not too sure on the final ones... I'm looking for something with 4S, relatively high capacity but also compact. Thinking 2x 2S 800mah ones could do it? Probably a bit on the small side capacity wise though which bothers me...

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Side question too, what are the dimensions of the motor and the gearbox of those 25mm ebay gearmotors that everyone uses? I was under the impression the overall length of those were 52mm, but not sure on the size of the motor itself...

And if anyone knows it, the reduction in the gearbox (for the 1000rpm one) and the shaft diameter on the motor itself? May be getting into strange modification territory here but if it saves a bit of space it's a good thing haha

[Revsmin]

The motors I have (incl. tabs and shaft) are 65mm long, 25mm diameter. And RPM does what it does with a blunt tooth

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Hmm, I may have slightly misjudged then and may need to make amends haha
I was looking at a brushless setup, with brushless motors in place of the brushed ones, still keeping that same gearbox (to keep things simple) but that'd potentially save some space and weight.

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Adventures in CAD (alternative title: its an abomination, never cad again matt)

So, I finally decided to get off my backside and actually design something up. Originally a hexagonal Full Body Spinner, I mentioned it to Haz, and then jokingly mentioned it could be a triangular one because 'that would be bizzare'.

And thus, Bizzare Love Triangle was born. With a name suggestion like that, I couldn't not do it haha

Excuse the awful Cad-ing by the way, I'm naturally a radio/video sort of person so designing models of things is alien to me, and it shows... http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/...ps84207eec.jpg

(and without the lid)
http://i1355.photobucket.com/albums/...psef9257be.jpg


It's powered by this battery http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...Lipo_Pack.html

Drive is a set of 1000rpm gearmotors (ebay ones) with Botbitz 10A's, so pretty standard. No 4WD but 2wd with casters because weight and space is a problem.

Chassis I think I'll make out of 1/2mm grade 5 ti because that's light and what have you. Outer spinning disc and pillar in the middle will be aluminium of some kind. Hopefully 7075 or Alumec, but I'll see what price comes out at for that, considering I'll have to have it CNC'ed...

The weapon system is suspect to change, but this motor http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...00kv_560w.html
With this esc http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._w_7A_BEC.html

and about a 2:1 reduction should get the outer shell spinning at about 7000 theoretical, probably 6000 actual. Or less. Either way, it's a large and heavy shell, it'll do damage at even 2000 rpm I reckon so it's still doing alright!

Now, the biggest problem I have at the minute is that this thing is literally huge. Outer diameter is about 380mm and that's pushing feather territory, May be a bit too big but I'll have to run it all through solidworks or something to figure out how much it'll weight. Guesstimations say it might be a tiny bit over, in which case I'll just cut into the shell a bit more, surely must be some weight to be saved there.

But yeah, new beetle build, should be fun and I'd like to get a FBS in circulation because despite the impracticalities for actually winning (the lack of srimech) they're hilariously fun to watch.

[mrsam]

And here I thought Lynx was farking huge, it looks great though but I imagine it's going to be really tight on weight. Spin up time might also be an issue with a shell that diameter.

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Yeah I have realised this now haha

Might end up scaling it down a little and going for antweight-sized motors instead of the beetle ones to be honest. Shell might get a 3:1 reduction too, I was worried about it but then I realised that similarly powered motors have been used (I think) to spin up heavier discs on heavier weight classes so might not be too bad. Might being the operative word there... I really have no idea what I'm doing, just wanting to put it together and hope for the best!