Team Bodge Job

[Bodge Job]

Re: Team Bodge Job

oh awesome thanks, ill remember that for next time! and I was really surprised at it And its going to be even faster at 18 volts! maybe too powerful!

[Ellis]

Re: Team Bodge Job

That's badass! It looks really cool (a trait of all winning robots, one might observe) and it certainly axes! At 18v it's going to be really quite nasty. Certainly gives hope to those hoping to go axey (me) with a machine at some stage.

One of the best additions of a weapon to an already established robot we've seen in a while?

[Bodge Job]

Re: Team Bodge Job

Aha thanks! but its not really an established robot, need to win battles for that, and it hasn't won any battles since its first year at the champs, that was back when it was partially armored in wood!

Lipo has come now though, looks good and fits perfectly (probably should have checked that before i bought it though) . But what are the suggestions/rules regarding the lipos protection? its got more than 22mm Nylon in all directions except up and down, where it is only 6mm HDPE. Should I put Aluminum top and bottom? or just at the bottom? And what thickness?

And should I mount it vertically or horizontally?
Vertically would mean its narrower so slightly less likely to be hit
Horizontally with more padding top and bottom, to absorb the impacts more? and mean that it has a larger space before the Aluminum, so the aluminium could be bent with out damaging the battery?
what do people think about it?

[grant_ploughbot]

Re: Team Bodge Job

I would probably mount it horizontally, with a thin layer of foam underneath (a few mm) and the pad the top to fill in the rest.

[Bodge Job]

Re: Team Bodge Job

Right OK cool, and what about the Aluminium?
do i need it? i know its not in the rules, but a lot of people seem to be wanting/requesting it? i think its a good idea just was wondering how thick people would want it? I have some old 1.5 mm aluminium, but if it needed to be thicker I would have to buy some

[daveimi]

Re: Team Bodge Job

Where did you get the sprokets and chain from that mount to the Gimsons and then the axe shaft?

[Bodge Job]

Re: Team Bodge Job

The sprockets are from technobots, I then drilled out and tapped the small one to 3/8 UNF. The shaft is a 12mm tube clamped between the bulkheads by 8mm studding.

[daveimi]

Re: Team Bodge Job

ar ok thats cool. Drilling and tapping is a bit like Voodoo and Witchcraft to me. I lived in hope for an hour then that it may have been off-the-shelf obtainable lol and I could have one too

[Bodge Job]

Re: Team Bodge Job

Did little work tonight, made a new thinner lighter back out of HDPE, and did a few small jobs for convinence but that's about it.


And Drilling and tapping isn't to hard, you can just about do it with a resamble cordless drill or power drill if you have one (and vice) and then you need an 8.5 mm drill (which if you haven't got you can get it in a set for £15 (although a more expensive better quality set would be a lot better) , and then tapping is also by hand, the tap being about £5 (for this size as its a less commen tap) and a tap key thing, also about £5. It's pretty simple to do, drill is really needed though, it's nearly impossible to build a robot with out drilling at some point so it's good have a good drill to use, tapping is less needed as in most sercumstances you could use bolts, but it's nearly impossible to attach a sprocket to a gimpson shaft with out it being threaded.

[Bodge Job]

Re: Team Bodge Job

Did a lot of wiring and stuff recently, but while I was testing the servo, microswitch controller thing on a load free drive motor, off the 18 volt lipo, but after going back and forth a few times (nothing too strenuous) when suddenly smoke shot out the side and the brushes glowed red hot, it was an obvious burnout, and I know i was over volting it by 50% but I wouldn't have thought it would have burn out so easily? could it have been a faulty motor? and if it wasn't it would be under less strain than the Axe motor, so would that survive the 18 volts? should test on another gear motor? or what can i do about it?

[Ellis]

Re: Team Bodge Job

That is definitely odd. Our motors sparked hard but never blew on their own, 100% of their failures were due to being stalled on the end of a locked up gearbox. I suppose if the gearbox were really resistant (debris/wrong grease?) and you were literally banging the motor back and forth at high RPM, it could blow, but even then I would expect it to just spark a lot and get hot. Not healthy for it but not fatal. You could experiment with another motor, yeah, you may have had a dodgy one all along.

[Bodge Job]

Re: Team Bodge Job

yeah I thought it was a bit odd, the gear boxes moved easily, and the grease wasn't to thick. and it was back and forth a few times, but not a massive amount? i think the drive motors current should be limited a bit any way due to the speed controllers. but its the axe one im mostly worried about. being turnt hard back and forth. Should I change it for an 18 volt motor from gimpson?

[Ellis]

Re: Team Bodge Job

If you want it to last, yes. I don't think the motor is at risk, though it will deteriorate faster than in other applications, the risk will be in the gearbox. Slamming a weight back and forth, plus having an olvervolted motor, I can't see it lasting long.

If it's a 36:1 gearbox you could make it 18v and change to 24:1. You should still have loads of torque to swing it round and you'd have a more reliable setup, whilst making it faster than it is at 12v in those tests.

edit: you may find it lasts longer if take some weight out of the weapon head, too. If it's a kg or two then the momentum behind it may just destroy the gearbox when you use it in anger.

Perhaps before you do anything you just build it as planned. If it breaks, you have options, if it doesn't, you have a powerful weapon.

[Bodge Job]

Re: Team Bodge Job

yeah ill just leave it for now, I should have a proper test Sunday, and then a years improvements for the champs. although i cant make many other events this year which is annoying. I hope there's another RC Autumn thing, preferably with fighting so I can get some spinner testing in before the champs next year.

[Bodge Job]

Re: Team Bodge Job

wired it up completely now, although the motor wires are to ridged, so im going to change them from 14 awg to 16. and one of the speedos is still glitchy so i have contacted dimension engineering. And depending of if the snow has cleared I may give it a test tomorrow on 18 volts, but the drive wont be working as only one speed controller is working properly.

I have also weighed it and it weighs 13.4kg with no top, so im going to have to loose some weight somewhere if I want a sustainable top.