Trax (My First Combat Robot)

[Max]

Hi,
I have been looking at the forums for some time now and have finaly started building my first featherwieght, it will be a tracked rambot.
I have already got one windscreen wiper motor (slow i know) and another should come this afternoon, I have ordered a sabertooth 2x25 ESC but it has not arrived yet, I will use unmodified 14.4V drill bateries, I will make a removable link from some anderson connectors and have already got a dx6i transmitter and a reciever.
I am going to a metal workers some time this week to make a cuboid aluminium angle frame and I will use 3mm aluminium checked plate as armour which I will bolt to the frame. I will make the tracks from 150mm wheels and bike tires and tension it with a threaded rod and 2 nuts.
I will post some CAD drawings later.
All opinions welcome,
Thanks,
Max

[Bodge Job]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

hello and welcolme to the fourm your robot sounds good so far (I love to see tracked robots) but I wouldnt sugest you use windscreen wiper moters because from my experence they go faster one way than the other
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVra9HiO7jc
Armour dillo used windscreen wiper moters (it was the slow one) and it was inifective

[Max]

Trax (My First Combat Robot)

On this website are some basic Cad drawings of Trax:-
http://fightingrobotpics.webs.com/

[death robotics]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

Welcome to the forums mate

you may have to change the name, Trax was already taken, but im sure Shane should be OK with it

[Max]

Trax (My First Combat Robot)

How does MaxTrax sound then ?

[harry hills]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

windscreen wiper=bad
drill batterys=bad
everything else=good
nice cad

[Max]

Trax (My First Combat Robot)

Hi again,
I can't help but notice but every roboteer seems to have something against windscreen wiper motors, why is this?

[daliad100]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

They are really quite ineffective in a modern featherweight. Slow and weak compared to a drill motor although they could be useful in building a lifting weapon.

[death robotics]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

How does MaxTrax sound then ?

Quite a good name if you ask me Though if Shane is ok with it, you can still have Trax

[Max]

Trax (My First Combat Robot)

Hi again,
I'm going to make the frame and armour tomorrow, unfortunatly the other wiper motor which arrived was completely different from the first so i am currently trying to find another one. Just i quick question, how many nicd/nimh drill battries do you think i'll need to power two wiper motors?

[daliad100]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

Well cheap drill batteries are typically 1000mah so two in parallel should do nicely.

[team_orr]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

use the drill motors

[Max]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

Hi again,
I spent all day yesterday working on the frame and armour of my robot and got most of the major welding done, the result of all this work was an industrial strengh box! Pictures of my box are on this website:
http://fightingrobotpics.webs.com/
It is very heavy but hopefully because i don't have a active weapon it will stay in the weight range. The speed controlers arrived yesterday but I still have to go to the post office to pick them up as there was £25 import tax to pay for it, and I am still waiting for the other wiper motor (apparently it is hard to get hold of the right one). I am coming to the rr event at the O2 tommorow so hope to see what some other robots are like. The main things I have left to do are make the tracks and tensioning mechanism and set up and fit all the electronics. By the way how to you guys connect your wires to the motors,battries,etc., do you just solder them or do you use dean/anderson connectors?
Thanks,
Max

[harry hills]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

deans are probably the way to go, i like to use tamiya plugs but they are not as good

[joey_picus]

Re: Trax (My First Combat Robot)

Welcome to the forums, looks like a very nice design you've got there

Speaking as someone who has built tracked robots in the past, the layout does look a bit concerning to me I have to say - the robot looks very narrow in relation to the length of the tracks and I would personally have made it wider, so less of the track has to turn sideways when you're turning...something I read on the old Pain/Judge Mech site (which unfortunately seems to be down at the moment) is that the length of the robot should be, at most, no more than one and a half times the width, otherwise you're draining a lot of power just to turn and it'll be quite slow (and the tracks will be susceptible to coming off - how do you plan to make sure they stay on the drive wheels?)

Really the wider the robot is, the easier it will be to turn quickly while keeping the tracks on, and although I'd have to see it in action to be sure I can foresee one or two problems with the current dimensions I'm afraid. The very best of luck with it though, I love tracks and will be following this with interest as I'd love to do a tracked feather myself someday