The Picnickers - Build Diary(s)

[Fathersplat]

Hey there! I don't think that I've properly introduced myself! I'm Dan, and I've followed robotic combat for practically my whole life (1998-present), but sadly I've never been able to join in on the fun.
BUT
Recently events have aligned themselves in such a way that I have time, tools and expertise on hand to help build my own! Sadly, no money, but I have all the bits and bobs that are needed (I think) already, so I've started to live my dream of building and being able to drive my own robot! So many exclamation marks!
Some of you may have guessed already that I already have robots (22 Lego ones. So mature. :P) and so I'm going to apply mostly the same principles in the non-lego build as I do in the Legos, such as compactness but room to flex, and a way to easily get electronics in and out.

Here's the 'bot so far (ignore the sideways drill motors, the mounting holes haven't been cut yet):
Snapchat-20140411103817.jpg
The parts I have:
2x Drill motors (locked with grub screws)
2x Drill batteries (which will be used for cheapness)
1x Sabertooth 2x25a speed control
2x Robochallenge 100mm wheels
1x Spektrum DX3
£15.00 (membership for three)
Do I need to add anything else on to that list?

Sorry for the word wall, i couldn't really help it. Still, if any of you got down here without casualty, thanks for the time!
EDIT: On second thought this isn't actually too long... Still wordy though.

[daveimi]

Congrats on first robot! Erm...removable link and LED?

[Fathersplat]

On the link, few questions:
Does it have to be a certain type? And how accessible does it need to be?
I've bodged a link with dad, would this be okay?
Snapchat-20140412031045.jpgSnapchat-20140412031109.jpg

[maddox10]

Is it removable without tools?

Will it stay seated even under heavy impacts?

How big is it?

[Fathersplat]

Yes, it is removable without tools. The other side will be either screwed or taped down.
Here's it compared to a drill motor and a wheel:
Snapchat-20140412032505.jpg
The pics are really hard to take, as I only have a front facing camera on my tablet. :l

[maddox10]

Large. And large equals space robbing in the robot. And that adds up in weight. And weight means a lot of forces under the huge G-loads our machines sustain.

Why not using a classic, like an EC3, XT60 or Deans connector? Small, light, easy and cheap.

[Fathersplat]

The machine only weighs 4kg as it stands, and the only thing still to make is the stainless wedge :P.
I'll look at some, and see how they are. Thanks.

[maddox10]

4 Kg, you're aiming for a Raptor, a popular German class?

[Fathersplat]

Nope, this is supposed to be a feather. It just turned out lighter than I thought it would. Is there a minimum weight for a feather that I'm unaware about?

[maddox10]

2. Weight Classes
2.1 Weight Classification
• Antweight: 0 to 150 grams
• Beetleweight: 150 grams to 1.362kgs [3lbs]
• Featherweight: 1kg to 13.6kgs [30lbs]
• Lightweight: 12kgs to 27.5kgs [60lbs]
• Middleweight: 27.5kgs to 55kgs [120lbs]
• Heavyweight: 55kgs to 100kgs [220lbs]
• Super Heavyweight: 100kgs to 145kgs [320Ibs]

[Fathersplat]

Good, I didn't think they'd change without an announcement. At least it'll fly quite far.

[daveimi]

Hiya

There are a lot more feather builders on here that will chip in, but they're all at the FW Champs this weekend lol so it will be a few days before you here from them. The feather weight class is from 1kilo up to 13.6kg. My first robot was about 4kg wet through as I'm rubbish at robot building. It was a little compact pushy robot with a spike, so was only tiny. I use a lot of wood and plastic, mostly cause they're easy to work with. The downside is that I've had a hard time getting robots up past the 7kg mark. In the events my robots got thrown about a lot but it was a lot of fun. The serious competitors often reach the full weight as they have dead complicated weapons and stuff, if you take the weapons off their robots they would only weigh a few kilos.

Usually pushy rammer robots use a few kilo's to make a solid and powerful drivetrain with plenty of batteries, and then use the rest of the weight to weld up a hefty steel shell for it all to sit in. I've had problems with this as I can't weld lol The other option is you can enter say 2 x 6kg machines as one entry as a cluster bot. I've been umming and arring about this for ages.

The links people use are usually made up from some sort of male/female connector, with one end of the connector bridged and acting as a removable link. When I was building my first robot I asked about links and people stuck a load of pictures up. Have a look through this.

http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...removable+link

Any more questions just give us a shout, like I say there will be millions more responses after the weekend and the champs is over.

Dangerous Dave

[Fathersplat]

Hey Dave, thanks for the tips. I know the basic 'build to the weight limit' stuff, as I hail from a robot arena 2 forum where it's drilled into everyone on a regular basis, and I've lurked as a non-registered member here for about a year now. All I'm trying to do so far is to broaden my engineering knowledge so that my next 'bot will be better.
Hey, if we're stuck, we can always enter our bots as a cluster

[daveimi]

Yeah I'd definitely do that with you! I'm sure my next plywood creation will only be 6kg or so. We can be 2Cool haha.

[Fathersplat]

Snapchat-20140420063545.jpg
The main armour has been drilled and screwed onto one of the plates, top or bottom. I haven't decided which it is yet.
Snapchat-20140420063459.jpg
Here you can see a pretend-o-bot in front of a 4mm thick piece of some yet-unknown metal [Edit - Aluminum] that I found in the shed when I was drilling the holes, so that will be used as the wedge on the front. The weight looks to be around 4.5kg-5kg when finished, but again, this isn't built for effectiveness, it's for practice.