Questions/builds thread.

[Eventorizon]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

It crossed my mind the other day that our robots are actually quite similar. Same 4 wheel drive system and wheel lay out, same battery and ESC locations. Same construction method right down top the central supports. The only difference is the width of the central section and the weapon of choice. Its interesting what variation you can get from similar setups

[Ellis]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

Wow, bulky armour 0_0. Looks great, I'm especially liking the 4 bar ratio which ought to work much better than a simple pivot in this arrangement.
Only thing I'd change is the drill packs, could have something with much more performance for less weight & volume for only £30-35 these days!

Thank you! We're quite pleased with the ratio. It is fast enough to be useful, whilst still able to lift 10kg+ at the tip without much trouble.

As for the batteries, I am aware of far superior packs being available for not much. I would love to use, I don't know, two 8.4v or perhaps 9.6v 3000-4000mah nimh packs in series, but these should do us fine. I think the truth is, my dad starts to lose interest if we use all shop-bought parts; it's the inventing that he enjoys, and so we have stuck with these batteries. It is true that they get extremely hot, which is really rather worrying, but they don't seem to restrict the performance of the thing. At stall/startup we're guessing some 40a minimum is what they have to supply, and they seem to do it, but as I say, they get very hot. I read somewhere that nicd cells simply don't supply what they can't; they don't discharge harder than they can?

Definitely upgrading for robot #2!

It crossed my mind the other day that our robots are actually quite similar. Same 4 wheel drive system and wheel lay out, same battery and ESC locations. Same construction method right down top the central supports. The only difference is the width of the central section and the weapon of choice. Its interesting what variation you can get from similar setups

It had occurred to me as well, we have very similar bulkhead designs. You're using gimsons, right? It'll be interesting to see how much better they are than good old 12v drills, we may have to have a game of sumo!

[Ellis]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

Bit more progress on the armour/wheel protection. We got what we're calling chocks in, and we cut the basic strips for the sides. Pics, as ever, here - http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i32 ... elentless/

It's really changing in look. It's gone from all squares to all triangles with just a few bits of plastic. And, it's huge! It'll be almost a perfect 50cm x 50cm square. I'm still getting to grips with it myself. Oh well, some robots are big, some are small. Turns out this one is a bit beyond big. :wink:

Our main tactic will be to sit on enemy robots until they surrender.

[PJ-27]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

How are you getting on with cutting all the odd angles into the LDPE?

I'm having serious problems getting all the panels to sit flush on my wooden bot, but I can sort that out with a belt sander!

[harry hills]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

thats baddass man :P

[Ellis]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

How are you getting on with cutting all the odd angles into the LDPE?

I'm having serious problems getting all the panels to sit flush on my wooden bot, but I can sort that out with a belt sander!

These last few parts we have done on a table saw (half visible here and covered in stuff - http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i32 ... 012266.jpg). The bulkheads we had to do with whatever we could, jigsaw, hand saw, finger nails, teeth, swearing, etc. As a result the cuts aren't great. My dad spotted the table saw as a second hand model, used for display. Aside from a crack in one of the handles, it seems to work perfectly (for a lot less than a new one). We can get accurate cuts, or accurate by our standards, on any angle from 0-45 degrees. It has revolutionised what we can do. Now it's the imperfections in the raw board that hinder precision when cutting angles and such.

For HDPE/LDPE, I strongly recommend a table saw. It has a huge surface area, both the metal table bit and the big saw itself, so it doesn't do much melting. If it does, it just blasts it away with the power of the saw. It is better than any jigsaw/handsaw/lots-of-swearing combination by a mile.

Thanks Harry, haha.

[Ellis]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

Really changing fast now! In short: wheel protection is on, and the front panel for the lifter is also on and.. that's it?! It sounds so simple and easy when you say it like that!

Anyway, pics pics pics! - http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i32 ... elentless/

I am rather fond of the shape. Really quite pleased, it's as if it was designed this way! Let me know what you think.

[Anttazz]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

Looks really tough and well built. Hopefully it does well.

[archie2000]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

looks awesome

[Bodge Job]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

Wow, looks awsome!

[Gabe01]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

This looks really good, you have created a really slick looking robot. Do you have enough weight to add some more thickness to the sides, with some bigger bolts and more of them. I'm just thinking of spinners.

[Eventorizon]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

It had occurred to me as well, we have very similar bulkhead designs. You're using gimsons, right? It'll be interesting to see how much better they are than good old 12v drills, we may have to have a game of sumo!

I would be up for that :-) It will be interesting to see, I reckon the Gimsons will be more reliable as it has steel teeth but they may not provide as much power as the standard drill motors... Whiteboard perhaps?

And the exterior armour look just plain cool, nice sloping sides to deflect spinners, no such luxury for me at the front or the sides (Spare wheels on order!) The whole thing looks incredibly well designed and built!

[Ellis]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

Thanks guys! I actually think a game of sumo could be great fun. Speed-controller-cooking drive-motor-frying rubber-burning-fun!

We haven't got enough weight to make big thick bulky side protection as we had hoped (misjudged how heavy the material is). We figured that we have two options; try to absorb the impacts, or try to just keep them out. Since we can't just block them with big thick armour, we've opted for sides that will flex and hopefully absorb the shocks. It's 5-6mm board, unsupported in the middle. We could possibly have done 10mm but I thought that's halfway between the two. It's not strong enough to take the hits, and it's not flexible enough to absorb them. I can kick the sides pretty hard and they stand up to it with no problem. Certainly non-spinners should be OK.

Either way, we have about 23mm board on the front, which I hope to point at any nasty spinny robots that come our way!

Thanks again. Today we should have progress on the top panels.

[Eventorizon]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

You are also using RoboChallenge Blue wheels by the look of it so it will be a real test of ESC's and drive motors, are you using Electronize ESC as well?

[ewan]

Re: Questions/builds thread.

'may not provide as much power as the standard drill motors' ahaa, the opposite should be true, but I'm as interested as you guys to see, will depend on lots of factors like voltage, weight distribution and so on