Team Psyclone: The Uprising (Of Build Diaries)

[TeamPsyclone]

G43-500... Would that be an alright motor? I'm quite happy to go with the E30-400, but at 500w, the G43-500 seems like a viable option.

[overkill]

The G43-500 is a re-badged scooter motor. For about $40 less you get 1/3 the power and a much weaker output shaft & bearing. If you were planning to use chain or belt drive to the wheels, then this motor could be interesting - as long as 500W is enough to get the bot moving. I would use a simulator like the Tentacle Torque Calculator to check it. The calculator doesn't have all the exact motors you are considering, but there are some similar ones to give you an idea. Without knowing much about your design or crunching the numbers on the G43-500, I think its rather underpowered for a heavyweight.

[maddox10]

You can use the scooter motor. If you gear down a lot, resulting in a slow machine but steady machine. You could think about using 4 off'm

The build quality ain't so bad, but for RW, we need tougher stuff than what a cheap chinese electric scooter offers.

[TeamPsyclone]

After another quick scour of eBay, I have come across the same motors Krissy Knee on Facebook Robot Wars was talking about. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24V-ELECTR...item2ece44cb47
Would these be suitable, or would they be too big etc...

[overkill]

They are very large and heavy compared to the E30-400 and adapting that 22mm output gear to hold a chain sprocket would be a PITA. I would still go for the E30-400 or the GPA motors.

[overkill]

The golf buggy motor might actually be an OK choice for a Sewer Snake style weapon motor; it would have huge torque and it's relatively low RPM means less gearing. There is still that 16Kg to deal with though.

[maddox10]

Big problem with this motor is the hardened gear for output shaft. Mounting anything else on it will involve very creative thinking.

Bigger problem, finding a replacement when it fails.

Biggest problem, weight. This motor is ment to be used the whole day, under constant, meaning everything is oversized and underpowered.

[TeamPsyclone]

So, in basic terms, either that american motor, or a decent scooter motor with ruggedization. Or beg on here for some wheelchair motors, since I have no local places to buy any, and ebay's not being friendly.

Actually, are mobility scooters too slow for this? If not, I may have a plan.

[overkill]

Are mobility scooters and wheelchair motors the same thing to you? All the wheelchair motors I have seen are around 200 rpm at their rated voltage, which seems slow to me. Unless you over-volt them and use large diameter wheels, they will probably be too slow. As Maddox already said, the other problem with eBay motors is finding replacements.

I looked at US heavyweights (which I am more familiar with) and they all seem to use at least 1HP motors. Using that as a baseline, you need at least a 750 watt motor and that G43-500 isn't up to it. When I started looking for larger scooter motors on eBay they were nearly all close to the price of the E30-400 Motor. As the scooter motors were all lower power and weaker construction than the E30-400, it seems quite a bargain to me.

What controllers are you planing to use for the drive motors? I seem to recall you saying that 24V was the highest you can go.

[TeamPsyclone]

As I said, the real killer on the Ampflow motors is the postage, and the time it takes to post them. It's £150 odd to get them posted, for a pair, whereas it's only >£100 for some pairs on Ebay, although as you and maddox say, replacements are are painful to source.
As for the controllers, I'm using some 4QD NCC70s, supplied by another forum member. IIRC they handle 24v, max.

On an interesting note, a 36v 1000w scooter motor is rather cheap, and on 24v still seems to be pretty quick for what it is, and to survive people going over allsorts on those types, I think it may be suitable for chain drive on a heavy... Although they are £90 each, so quite painful on the wallet.

[overkill]

Are you just looking at the postage from the Robot Marketplace? Its very steep so you might buy direct from Ampflow.

If you can get the 1000W scooter motors cheaper than the Ampflows + postage, then they will probably be fine. Buying two motors direct from Ampflow is $305 USD or about £182.

[TeamPsyclone]

THE UPDATE OF UPDATES
Just received a nice pretty Birthday (Sadly one day late, but I don't care) present, a certain heavyweight robot Chassis. The beast is bigger than I expected, but I will put so much effort into making it run again. I'm terrible at making the shells, but I know how to (For the most part) get some of the insides done. Not quite sure on Pneumatics, however my school and friends/team members should be quite helpful with this.

[harry hills]

Told you it was huge lol. You can probably shorten it by cutting out the back end and welding the frame up. With a school/college behind you and more pairs of hands it should be easy.

[TeamPsyclone]

I think it should suffice for now, but I'll keep note of the advice. Currently, I'm bolting up the sides of the robot, so it looks in some from of shape.

[TeamPsyclone]

So, with everything I currently have nice and bolted down, I shall move on to drive, or basic thereof, where would I be finding good motors for the sport. I've already mentioned Ebay scooter motors, and there's no wheelchair motors on there at a suitable price. Where would I get them from? All scrapyards in the area are automotive, mainly. Is it worth going to a mobility shop?