Boneyard - FW Vertical Crusher

[mattsdragons]

Been busy gathering parts and getting started on a half decent FW, have got it to a stage that it finally looks like something so the first Pretendobot pics are here

Pretendobot 3.jpg
Pretendobot 2.jpg
Pretendobot 1.jpg

There is still a long way to go, going for the whole angled main pods, flat thick HDPE sides, flat top with some sort of self-righter. Whole thing will be weighty and the top armor will probably be quite thin but around the lower section will be 15mm HDPE with the front wdge being 4mm hardox to give me a decent surface to crush onto.

[Mouldy]

you get the actuator from ed? ;

http://www.teamstorm.com/feathers/forcex.htm ... going back a few years now, but at the time it was pretty good.

[typhoon_driver]

Is the beak aluminium?

[mattsdragons]

@Mouldy - Yeah, I bought the pair off Ed due to the power I can get out of them, they might be heavy and old tech but they are very fast

@typhoon_driver - This beak is ali but it's only to get sizes etc before I get a proper one made

[typhoon_driver]

Good good. A nice 3 dimensional one similar to tiberius should do the job nicely.

[mattsdragons]

That is the eventual aim but for now I may have to stick with getting something 2D cut due to costs

[mattsdragons]

Currently got a design question and am wondering if anyone can offer some advice.

I am undecided whether to mount the crusher pod as it is to the base or on a plate that would sit above the wheel bulkheads. Reason being I could make a more compact drive area as well as protecting things internally better, over time I could create different weapon pods that all run off the same power source/weapon controllers that can simply click in and if the weapon for the reason fails can always be a wedge.

Just wondering the popular opinion on how feasible and effective this sort of design could be is the weapon pods were proper supported below

[daveimi]

I think if your making a crusher your whole chassis needs to be dedicated to it structurally.

[typhoon_driver]

As Dave mentioned, making a robot that can be a flipper, crusher and spinner is difficult at the very least. The issue being that all the weapon designs need a very different chassis configuration. What you will end up with is a machine that isn't very good at using any of the weapon options because compromises have had to be made to fit in all 3, 4 or however many.

[mattsdragons]

Very good point, I had considered making weapons that were not overly complex, probably only a crusher, axe and lifter but I do understand whst yu mean by making a dedicated machine to one rather than different ones

[daveimi]

I'm not putting down your idea, having different attachments worked for Tornado and some others. It felt as though at heart, Tornado was always an extremely potent rammer first, and then which ever drum, spike etc. attachment second.

[mattsdragons]

That was kind of my motive behind it, have a machine that's basic function is to put opponents where it can but have this type of interchangeable top section for different weapon to suite

[daveimi]

I think your worry will be that the "pod" with the arm needs to be extremely strongly mounted, probably welded or use one continuous piece of material through the robot for strength. If it has to be removable it will more than likely mean bolts, which will have to take a load of force going through them. At this point its raw maths as to whether the bolts you plan to use will take the forces involved before sheering. If the maths looked good I'd have a crack, but if it looks questionable I would say you need to focus on a complete frame dedicated to crushing.

[mattsdragons]

Had the horrible realisation that everything weighed too much, before I had even started wiring and construction it was 14.8kg, too much!

So, after a few talks with roboteers and a swift kick in the right direction the design has dramatically changed. Until I get a rough render think a shorter, wider, sleeker Ming 3 with a hinged wedge/crush zone.

[psycho_fling]

I don't remember these issues when I built mine, suppose it did help it was welded ti and ali

If you are interested I've got a dewalt motor conversion for the linac you're using (same as mine, so should be an easy swap) I'm trying something different when I rebuild my crusher shortly