RogueTwo Robots

[typhoon_driver]

Team Terminal Damage

Lol been there and done that. There is nothing quite as disheartening when you realise that you have taken the flange off the aluminium pulley that you paid 60 quid for to get custom made :P

Best of luck throwing it back together Jamie.

[RogueTwoRobots]

Team Terminal Damage

Never fear, Drumroll arose from the ashes last night and is fully working again *evil cackle*

Even managed to get Kaizer wired up and tested out. Broke something on it too (Im doing well!) but itll get fixed today and finished off

[RogueTwoRobots]

Team Terminal Damage

Damn...again!

I fixed the broken bit on Kaizer (one of the lifting fork mounting points) Its now been reinforced to make it stronger and Im much happier with it than I was before it broke.

Running it around the kitchen let me get a feel for it although I wont be driving it much at Rebel Robots. Its nippy (so Im feeling more confident about keeping away from the discs of Kishar and Hornet 2) and quite controllable, nice to drive really. As a last test before stopping for the night, I spun it on the spot continuously while raising the lifting forks. I could hear the batteries running down a bit, which is what I wanted so I could trickle charge them again, when all of a sudden....POP!

One of the cells in the pack exploded (not violently, just the loud pop) and damaged another cell in the process. This has left me in a bit of a sticky situation. Im going to go on the hunt for a powerful soldering iron and attempt to make a pack up from the surviving working cells of this pack and the spares from the pack Drumroll damaged. But in the event that Im not able to, or the homemade pack assembly doesnt go too well, can I ask...

Does anyone have a spare pack (either new or used) of 9.6V 3700mAh Nimh batteries in a 4x2 block formation eg:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/9-6v-3700mAh-NiMH-Battery-Pack-Compact-Vapextech_W0QQitemZ320160397744QQcmdZViewItemQQptZ UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN?hash=item320160397 744&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683%7C66% 3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/9-6v-3700mAh-N...tech_W0QQitemZ 320160397744QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ToysGames_RadioC ontrolled_JN?hash=item32016039 7744&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1683%7C66 %3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240% 3A1318

that they could bring to Rebel Robots at the weekend as a standby. A new pack off eBay wouldnt arrive in time but if I was to borrow someones pack Id be willing to buy it off them after the event if they wanted to part with it. If anyone can help out, Id be most grateful!

Additionally, does anyone have an idea of what would cause a cell to pop like I described? Is it due to drawing too much current out of the battery, more than it can handle? Im guessing this is the main reason since Kaizer was spinning on the spot and running the actuator at the same time. My other concern is, spinning and lifting the forks is a likely arena scenario, so its not ideal to have cells popping during a fight. Is it possible that the application would be more suited to Nicads (or possibly A123s now that Nicads are hard to get) since it seems to be drawing a lot of current. The setup is four 16.8V drill motors running at 19.2V, plus an Okin Deltadrive actuator driving the forks.

Any insight into the above in relation to battery technology would be helpful, as Im still quite uneducated in that department (too used to the simplicity of SLAs )

Thanks

[psycho_fling]

Team Terminal Damage

well i have a pack of 8.4v in stick form cant remember mah its vapextech pack

vapextech are very good aswell

i doubt you will ever have to spin on spot and lift the forks but dont know what your like in an arena

[typhoon_driver]

Team Terminal Damage

Jamie,

I have a feeling that a battery going pop means that it over heated. Probably due to too much current being drawn.

You have 4 drill motors being overvolted plus a linear actuator running along side. That is a huge amount of current for a pack that should only be able to discharge 35amps max.

If you can afford them I would go for the A123s. Been playing with mine and they are $exy!!!! Huge current discharges and light as hell. Throw them in drumroll and you will notice a huge difference!

[Kenny]

Team Terminal Damage

nah! stick lipos in get even more than A123s for less weight

[RogueTwoRobots]

Team Terminal Damage

Update

Just thought Id give a bit of a post-Rebel Robots update since Ive got nothing better to do (who said anything about studying?)

Firstly to Drumroll; its first fight was against Tuff Luck 2, a bit of a rematch from the UK champs last year. Managed to refrain from getting stuck on each other twice so that was good. Got a few hits in on Tuff Luck but it has a thick shell and the drum was never going to cause much damage. However, Tuff Luck broke down (I think it was a power failure?) and was in the process of being counted out when Drumroll hit it with the drum and promptly broke down itself! Drumroll still won because Tuff Luck had stopped first but the breakdown was slightly worrying.

Back in the pits, a post-mortem revealed that the two speedo plugs had popped out from the mixer, thus removing the BEC supply to the receiver and in turn losing all radio control. Quick fix with tape and cable ties however and it was all good to go again.

Next up was Pain in the Asp. A very good match that had some nice impacts. Im keen to see this fight again actually as the drums potential capability was becoming apparent. However the drive was rubbish leading to some squiffy handling. Thankfully Geoff is a better driver and kept driving towards the drum

Just when it was getting fun, I lost one side of my drive - no idea why at first. This limited any attempt to drive towards PITA so I had to hope hed come towards me. Geoff very quickly realised what had happened and altered his tactics to suit, driving round to the back of Drumroll and pushing into the rear wedge. This led to a final score of 6-2 in PITAs favour as I could not do much going round in circles. But I loved the fight so its cool

With Drumroll out of the main comp I tried to solve the problem of the bad drive. Never had much time to pull it apart though to the thorough degree that it needed, so I just kept it together and threw it in a whiteboard at the end to drive in circles.

Back home, I took it apart and the cause of the broken drive was that the pinion on the motor shaft had come off so the turning of the motor wasnt being transmitted through the gearbox. Ive replaced the motor for Newcastle and fixed the old one with some Loctite. Not sure how well thatll hold so Ill keep that as my spare.

So overall I was happy with Drumrolls weapon performance, even though I wish it could have progressed a little more in the competition. I was however, disappointed with the speed of the drive. When I take the outer chassis off and drive around the inner chassis (basically where everythings mounted) its speedy as hell. Yes there is an extra 8kg on it when the outer chassis is fixed on but I think its mostly down to the Speed 900 taking a bit of power away from the drives and also the distance between the spinning mass and the drive wheels (quite a bit for a vertical spinner). Not sure how much of an effect the steel floor had. The bike tyre would have gripped it no problem, but not sure if the HDPE front panels are generating too much friction. Might add some Nylon skids for Newcastle, its always seemed to be fine running on the Nylon.

Kaizer went out in the first round to Pillow Torque and thanks to the change from double elimination to single elimination, plus Hornet and Kishar wrecking each other, it was able to avoid a trashing. The most damage was a broken aerial and a damaged gearbox. It suffered from the torque ring slipping in the match against Pillow Torque which resulted in a lovely grinding noise in the match. Thought it was worse than that but thankfully a quick turn of an allen key and they were all good.

Ran it in a couple of whiteboard fights; I was pleased to see the speed it zooms around at at 24V (thanks again to Clive for lending us those cells - think Im going to reconfigure my remaining Vapextech cells to 24V )
Slammed into the wall a few times (cant have been good for the forks :P) and slammed/got slammed by other robots a fair bit. Damage, as mentioned above, was a jammed wheel caused by a broken gearbox plate (too much slamming!) which was easily fixed on the Saturday night.

Overall opinion: didnt get much competition time but its got potential and Ill hopefully be able to start sorting out a four-bar-lifter for it to replace the forks.

Finally got some photos of Kaizer uploaded too, for those who haven€™t seen it:

http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/ayrshirerobotics/Kaizer%20Mk3%20-%20Build/http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...k3%20-%20Build /

Lifting forks were plundered from Kim Davies garage during the middle of the night

Also updated Drumroll€™s build pics a little:

http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/ayrshirerobotics/Drumroll%20-%20Build/?start=160http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0-%20Build/?st art=160


Wow, bloomin€™ long post. Maybe I should consider that €˜study€™ thing now

Jamie
http://www.ayrshirerobotics.vze.comwww.ayrshirerobotics.vze.com

[psycho_fling]

Team Terminal Damage

you didnt mention how you broke p.i.t.a s gear box

[craig_anto]

Team Terminal Damage

big time, such a good shot looked so good on the footage

[RogueTwoRobots]

Team Terminal Damage

Well I mentioned the gearbox in the Rebel Robots thread, so didnt want to rub it in again :wink:

I think that was the last hit of the fight wasnt it? In which case it was fluke more than skill; I wasnt aiming, mainly because I couldnt drive properly, so I just spun it round and got lucky with an impact. Cant wait to see the footage of it though

EDIT: Ok, turns out I didnt mention it in the Rebel Robots thread, so thanks Alex for bringing it up

(Message edited by K_C_R on February 12, 2009)

[craig_anto]

Team Terminal Damage

if you had drive working properly you might of got him OOTA you werent far off with that last hit
you realize you were the last spinner in the comp
are you still on electronize? you could get on a sabretooth and really kick arse

Drumroll kicks ass, your so close to having a championship winner RebRobs and Robo Challenge
CrumpleZone isnt far off being there too but i think Drumroll with its Tanto forks is one of the best spinners out there

[john]

Team Terminal Damage

when we going to see the fights craig? was it all good footage for tv?

[craig_anto]

Team Terminal Damage

yea was all brilliant, first 3 fights were a little dark but the rest are great, should have a DVD for May June time for every team who competed

[RogueTwoRobots]

Team Terminal Damage

Yep still running Drumroll on Electronize - I thought about a Sabretooth but money currently doesnt allow, plus if it aint broke, dont fix it
The Electronizes are still sufficing so Ill stick with them until they break (or possibly change to a Sabretooth for Drumroll Mk2)

Hehe, Tanto forks. I actually borrowed (read: stole ) most of the design from Nick Martins beater robot from pictures I saw on the Aussie forum. Personally I think its got a bit to go yet before it really kicks ass, but thanks for the support
Im hoping Drumroll Mk2 will be a lot more kick-ass though - similar layout and design as Proteus (US drumbot that I really admire) and Reboot from Australia. Dunno if Reboot was in action when you were over in Oz Craig but if youve seen pictures or videos of it in action Im sure youll agree its stylish as hell (and damn effective for a friction-driven drum!)

[RogueTwoRobots]

Team Terminal Damage

Update

The forum upgrade has made my page order all funky but Ill add some info still anyway.

With three days to go till the UK champs things are well on track. The robots visited Hornet Headquarters at the weekend where I was able to get a lot done to both machines to ensure they would be ready for the upcoming event.

Drumroll is now ready and raring to go:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/ayrshirerobotics/Drumroll%20-%20Build/DSCN4104.jpghttp://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0-%20Build/DSC N4104.jpg

I discovered one of the wheels is a little loose on the drive so I just need to tighten that up and top-up the batteries. Drive seems a little better than at Rebel and the drum is looking formidable.

Kaizer was suffering from intermittent faults when driving. It would be fine one minute then one side would just cut out and not work again for a while. The problem hasnt been entirely diagnosed - I can only conclude that it was a loose connection somewhere and since Ive now gone over all the connections and redone them, Im hoping its okay.

Critical Damage was orginally signed up for whiteboards at Newcastle but is still in no fighting condition. However over the past day Ive done some work on Bullseye and it should be in running order to have a few whiteboard fights and uphold its excellent combat record at Robochallenge events

Not much to do now but wait for the weekend to roll on and have an absolute belter!

Oh yes, well be bringing a haggis too for anyone wishing to try/have some. Im just about to head up north to the glens to try and catch one