Cicatrix Build Diary

[Anttazz]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

Thanks Danny, if I manage to get it the way I want it for Edinburgh all of the polycarb will be hidden by HDPE But, I will have a vinyl wrap on the HDPE to make it look more like Eric.

Long time since my last update but not much has happened. Waiting for new wheels for Eric Jr so I can mount the Gimsons appropriately so as to keep the ground clearance fairly low. The mount of them is much smaller than the mounts from the old drill motors so will need a bit of a booster seat to be mounted on, but will need the wheels to determine that.

In other news, a number of our robots have changed hands. Minitrix has left the building and is USA bound, after seeing that the competition this year was 8hrs away I though I would try selling it to someone who has attending that. It didn't. However it has found a new home where i'm sure it'll be used so thats the main thing. Also, our 2 Antweight robots have left us for another person who will actually use them, so its all good.

Essentially, from the cash I made from that it was a straight swap for Chimera, the Heavyweight that has been up for sale over the past few weeks on the forum. Met up with Colin at the weekend and came up with a few ideas on where the future of the robot lies. Plan at the moment is to throw a set of 750's I have in the workshop in there and convert it from friction to chain drive. Should be pretty quick as the wheel are huge compared to most robots out there, 13inch rims plus tyres, not sure exactly what that makes em overall. This also makes the robot absolutely huge, and barely fit in the back of the car.

Took a photo to illustrate the size of Chimera compared to Scar:



This is a photo I took for a friend of mine's kid who wanted to see the robots, but it can go on here now that it has been totally slated on FB for my laziness, someone on here will no doubt also notice what I mean....

[Anttazz]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

Been doing a bit of tidying up on Chimera today, took the wheels off and sanded one of them down to the metal and resprayed it with a black anti rust primer as you can see from the photo that it was looking a bit orange with rust so now it looks a bit tidier. Also gave the hubs a coat of the same primer, just to keep it tidy as they were heavily rusted. Won't bother with photos as its one of those small jobs that takes a long time. Also had a look at how the blade is wired up and tried to work out how to get it all going, seems simple enough.

COMPETITION TIME

On to real news though, considering running a competition between here and the schools to see if anyone can come up with a new name/colour scheme for Chimera, but the original may well still stay, and likewise I may only change one of those things. Only rules would be that the robot has to stay as it is, nothing major can be added or taken away structurally, for example, a flashing light/horn can be added, a flipper cannot.

Not really much of a prize for the winner, will seem like more to the kids in school than you guys . I'll write the name of the designer on the robot and of course decorate it as their design states. I'll also try to do something like get one of those autograph books signed by the people/robots at RL Edinburgh, which will be the robots first event and add a few photos of the robot to the book. I'll also maybe see if Weston will mention them in his event report for that event when looking at the robot to get them on youtube if he doesn't mind

Essentially it'll be judged by all of us, with the winners being decided by myself, Colin (if he wants to be involved in the process that is) and the rest of the team. I'll post the school drawings on here as and when they're done.

Long update to say very little I know, if anyone wants to enter, just post a description/name idea on here or a drawing of the design.

Hope this works well

[Anttazz]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

One of the wheels was plain black, so repainted to look similar, will probably have to do the other one too. Don't like my freehand painting much mind you.

[Anttazz]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

In keeping with my usual flitting between projects, I have been working at getting Eric Jr and Cicatrix going again. Sadly, it has been a bad 24hrs for the robots.

Eric Jr has 1 Gimson mounted and the other ready to be mounted, but I heard from Dave that my CO2 bottle isn't filling up, so i'll need to have a look at that and see whats going on. In light of this, I wired up Cicatrix again, taking out one of the ESC's and going back 1 XXL for the whole system. All seemed to be going well, had everything but the BEC wired up, so soldered in the BEC and connected it to the receiver.

Then, BOOM! SMOKE! FIRE!

No idea what causes is as the link isn't in and the BEC supposedly has reverse protection even if it was wired up wrongly (which it wasn't) so pretty stumped. Anyway, BEC wires are really burnt and were roasting hot, as for the unit itself, it looks ok but not sure yet. Will get everything else on it done then go from there...

[RogueTwoRobots]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

You're really not having much luck with the electronics in Cicatrix
Does this mean I've got a good chance of winning the Scottish mini-champs on Monday then?

If you want, I'd be happy to bring Cicatrix back here at some point, strip the wiring right back, double-check all the connectors and re-do everything, see if that eliminates whatever mystery wiring-virus which is manifesting itself in the robot. I could clip all the wires up as well, might make it easier to keep track of what's what. I think it's still within its 1yr manufacturer warranty :wink:

[Anttazz]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

Well, I have Rover, which weighs a little over 4.5kgs, so it should be able to beat Carcinus at least

If you like you can have a go Jamie . Over the past few days I have taken all of the wiring out and resoldered them to every connector and motor tab there is and despite the simpler system it still doesn't work half as well as when we were using 2 different makes of controller. To be honest, the bits you did work as well as when you did them, its my dodgey electrics that have ruined it, maybe it just doesn't like me

[razerdave]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

Did the large capacitor next to the battery terminals blow ? That has happend to me before and I never found a cause...

[RogueTwoRobots]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

Did the large capacitor next to the battery terminals blow ?

On my XL, the large capacitor broke off in battle. But strangely, it still runs perfectly fine. No idea what the capacitor did, although not sure if it's something to do with current-limiting, as the controller doesn't seem to cut out when I throw the throttle straight forward.

I'll have a look on Monday Tony, see if I can put my severely limited wisdom to the test. And yeah, Rover should be able to trounce Carcinus!

[Anttazz]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

Sorry Dave should have been clearer, its an external BEC. The BEC of the XXL has been completely removed.

As far as I can see the XXL looks like its still intact. All the smoke was coming from the BEC wires anyway, and strangely it was on the output side rather than the input, so was only supposed to be 5V. Hopefully its just the BEC anyway...




The whole setup is really causing me a real headache, and if the XXL still does its stupid current limiting thing i'll be really annoyed, re-considering using one of the 50A Wotty controllers if I can find a way to make it fit.

[Max]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

I had the same happen to the wires comming out of my electronize. I just had to resolder them and never found the cause

[jonny]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

Strap wotty to top of robot. Problem gustav?

[Anttazz]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

Could wire in my Roboteq for tomorrow and tape it on, but i'll probably catch fire for no apparent reason too

Strangely enough Max, it happened to my electronize at last years champs when I was fighting LF3 and Tiny Toon. I think that happened because it touched onto a positive terminal somewhere though, but it all still worked again afterwards too.

[Max]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

Do you mean the casing touched the positive terminal because that could have happened in my bot

[Anttazz]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

I meant the BEC wires touched the terminal.

[Anttazz]

Re: Cicatrix Build Diary

HW Update

The progress of the HW's has been put in jeopardy again, really should have stayed in bed this whole week...

As many of know you know (mainly the ones who have asked me to help move heavy things ) I tore the ligaments in my ankle around 2 years ago and recently had them repaired around 6 months ago and have been doing rehab stuff since then. I noticed that the rehab was insanely painful at times right down the leg that was affected, with the advice essentially being man up by my folks and physio. Got insanely sore at a show I was doing last week so went to the Doc's who said I have overworked and now have a hernia that needs surgery to repair.

So basically, I can lift less now than I could when my ankle was wrecked, and when I do the pain is much worse. So really all the treatment has been a great success . It makes lifting parts of Chimera almost impossible so i'm not sure how thats going to pan out as far as RL Edinburgh is concerned, really hope I can find some way of getting as many robots as possible to be working for it, I want to have at least Eric Jr, Cicatrix, Rover and a HW going for it, but i'm not so sure now.

Was already pretty annoyed at missing the Champs/Gadget Show this year, so this is , quite literally another kick in the stones.

But on a positive note, enjoy the champs everyone last year it was awesome and be sure to have a look at all the different exhibits, its a geeks paradise and also has a number of super model types promoting stuff, one of which my cousin got her number last year, so it is possible guys :wink: