Team Health & Safety - First Time Builder

[Zenith]

Hi everyone!

At long last I'm giving this a go. Built myself the Viper kit with a lifter to see how I'd do (AND BY GOD IT WORKS), and now I'm hooked.

Time to kick it up a notch, and join the Beetleweights with my own entry built from scratch. I aim to do most of it myself - construction, wiring, the lot. Let's see how far I get - the goal is first and foremost to have a laugh, but I aim to eventually make it to the Beetleweight champs at some point (flying the flag of the Netherlands into battle!).

Any tips on materials to use (or not to use) are welcome. I'm starting out simple, so I've set my sights on a 2WD drive with the 10A Botbitz ESCs, and an HDPE construction with a nice wedge in front. What lies beyond that we'll see later - rest assured, you'll get plenty of opportunities to point and laugh!

Questions I have so far:

Firstly, drive motors - I've already found plenty suitable things by scavenging through the build diaries here, but what are the main things to look out for? Preferred size, weight, power, torque? How to mount them into a plastic chassis?

Goggles on,

Greg

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Thread Overview:

--Build Diaries

IMG_20191111_224638.jpg Head For The Exit	IMG_20211031_220843.jpg Head For The Exit (Mk2)
IMG_20200627_005643[1].jpg This Is Not A Drill (Mk4)	IMG_1448.jpg Woo (Mk1)	IMG_20190516_205800.jpg Grabber-Woo
IMG_1601[1].jpg This Is Not A Drill (Mk3)	IMG_20171117_213019.jpg This Is Not A Drill (Mk2)	IMG_20170902_131549.jpg This Is Not A Drill (Mk1)

--Event Reports
2021 Bristol Bot Builders Beetle Champs (UK)
2019 Bugglebots Season 2 (UK)
2019 Battle in the 'Burgh (UK)
2019 UWE Bot Brawl (UK)
2018 Bugglebots Season 1 (UK)
2018 Dutch Robot Games @ FACTS (BE)
2017 Dutch Robot Games @ Bright Day (NL)
2017 Beetleweight European Championships (UK)

--Tutorials
1. Bending HDPE
2. Making spacers using basic tools

Facebook can be found at http://www.facebook.com/teamhealthnsafety
Instagram is @teamhealthnsafety

[Andy]

For drive motors most people use these or a similar variant

http://ranglebox.com/product/1000rpm-gear-motor/

They give great speed and torque for beetleweight robots and are quite easy to use, for mounting them they have two holes on the front for face mounting, in my beetle theyre bolted to the sides of the chassis then the wheels are on the outside of the main chassis, but there are other ways you could do it.

Goodluck!

[Zenith]

Thanks! I spotted some useful motors on Ebay that were mentioned in build threads, so I'm looking into those too. Placed the first order for some parts yesterday, and I'm quite looking forward to getting all of the internals together to get a grip on dimensions. I'm not really a guy for doing it in on a computer, I'd much rather do it hands on. Cardboard Aided Design all the way!

What are some of the best solutions when it comes to wheels? Already managed to find some Fingertech wheels online, but which kind is more commonly used?

[daveimi]

I use pololu but fingertech are the most popular.

[Shakey]

Banebots are the best choice in my eyes for beetle wheels.

[Eventorizon]

Fingertech are so called because you need bionic fingers to get them on... its a really bad system. The wheels are light but you need 4 hands to put 1 wheel on.
I'd go Banebots if you can, or look at getting some wheels 3D printed. You can also but some press on wheels from various places like Ebay and Technobots.

[maddox10]

Zenith, PM me. You can do better...

[Zenith]

Thanks for the input everyone! I'm also looking into actual RC wheels - seems to be a viable option too from what I've seen.

Ofcourse, it's also dependent on which ones are easiest attainable down here. Those import charges can be a true pain.

[Niels - Team K.a.L.M.]

As much as I love some competition here in Holland. Zenith's stepping up to the beetle plate means my machine is no longer dutch champ by default... Now I can finally earn some bragging rights, or lose them completely with a smile on my face.

[maddox10]

Zenith did PM me...

[Zenith]

Now I can finally earn some bragging rights, or lose them completely with a smile on my face.

I like what this guy is saying.

[Zenith]

Looking around a bit for motors - both these and these I've come across, but for a 2WD lifter, the torque of the latter seems more important I reckon. What's the easiest way to set about calculating possible speed?

[Niels - Team K.a.L.M.]

100rpm with for instance 40mm wheels;

4 x 3.14= 12.56cm
12.56 x 100 (rpm) = 1256cm a minute or 12.5m a minute
12.5 x 60 = 750m per hour

The arena isn't big but it feels a little counterproductive to need roughly 20 seconds to get from one side to another.

[tweedermeister]

Looking around a bit for motors - both these and these I've come across, but for a 2WD lifter, the torque of the latter seems more important I reckon. What's the easiest way to set about calculating possible speed?

The 1000 Rpm motors are the standard drive solution in most beetles, with some moving to brushless drive more recently using the same gearboxes, just swapping the motors and controllers.

[Zenith]

Thanks for the info! What are the benefits/drawbacks of having brushless drive as opposed to brushed?