Ion Systems - Build progress log

[TechAUmNu]

This is the build log for the Ion Systems team. We are a group of students studying MEng Computing and Electronics at Heriot-Watt University.

Our first attempt at building a fighting robot is a heavyweight to enter robot wars, name to be decided.

Currently we have a few things we want to achieve:

• Fastest spinup of any spinner in the competition (Hoping to get it less than 2s to full speed) using 3 150cc motors. (30kW)
• Most manoeuvrable/fastest spinner (using 3 of the Turnigy 50cc motors for drive, 15kW drive)

So for our initial design we had a full body ring spinner designed as a giant bearing, but due to advice from people here it was decided to go with an external bearing design instead.

This was the initial concept:
initial concept.jpg

And after the redesign it looks like this:
bit of a squeeze.jpgside view.png

Its going to be a squeeze to get everything to fit, but I think we will manage. I will update this thread regularly with our progress in the CAD design.

[maddox10]

Why no meltybrain?

[TechAUmNu]

I mean that's a cool idea but its kinda boaring to watch from what i have seen and a proper spinner can do alot more damage and spinup faster. Maybe at somepoint in the future though!

[maddox10]

In theory a meltybrain is the better option, as the whole machine is spinning mass.

And you take out a few motors and bearings out of the equation.

[TechAUmNu]

But its way more fun when the thing can utterly destroy itself

[TechAUmNu]

Latest progress, finished designing the ring and roughly worked out where everything is going.
ring assembly.jpggallery.0.jpgbearing mockup.jpgRing_assembly_2016-Sep-05_01-43-16PM-000_CustomizedView29489927978.jpg

[proffles]

Looks nice.
Are your omniwheels large enough to run inverted, or are you adding a srimech?

[overkill]

How is the power transferred from the three Rotomax motors to the gears driving the ring - belts? The motors don't like side loads on the top of the motor; I had to modify mine to make it strong enough. Also, why have three gears? You can save plenty of weight & space by having all the motors belt drive one gear.

[TechAUmNu]

Looks nice.
Are your omniwheels large enough to run inverted, or are you adding a srimech?

We have a set of wheels for each side to keep the space usage down.

[TechAUmNu]

How is the power transferred from the three Rotomax motors to the gears driving the ring - belts? The motors don't like side loads on the top of the motor; I had to modify mine to make it strong enough. Also, why have three gears? You can save plenty of weight & space by having all the motors belt drive one gear.

We are making some pulleys that will be attached to the outside of the main can, then we will take off the bit that extends out the top. Either using V-belts or timing belts with centrifugal clutch.

We have 3 gears.. because we have 3 gears. I will rearrange it to have one.

[overkill]

Having pulleys at different heights around the can will make belt driving the one gear much easier. Have a look at micro-V belts; they have excellent grip without needing much tension and the pulleys are no harder to make than a regular V pulley, particularly if your lathe has a DRO.

[Gabe01]

This is going to be great, you've been looking at 'The Ringmaster' bear in mind the ring will be super costly to make. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished beast.

[TechAUmNu]

This is going to be great, you've been looking at 'The Ringmaster' bear in mind the ring will be super costly to make. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished beast.

Yeah last quote we had was ~£1300 for just the hardox part

[TechAUmNu]

Lots of progress since the last update (mostly prompted by the ridiculous timescale).

We have now finished the armor design and how to do the teeth on the ring.

Triforce.jpg



Now just to work out how all the internals will be mounted!

Our application should be in on Tuesday.

[overkill]

It looks like a demonic Oreo

You could make the teeth stronger and easier to mount with a small alteration to the ring:



If you add some ramps (light grey) around the teeth to form a flat bottomed pocket, the teeth will be easier to fit and weld to the ring and should be a little more resistant to tearing out.