Team Kaizen - Kaizen

[Theo]

Haha, oh boy....
Have you seen the lineup, looks gruesome to say the least

Kaizen does look really solid though, plus will probably absorb many hits, good luck!

[Ocracoke]

I've not seen any pictures of the competition so a complete shot in the dark. XD I expect Kaizen to come out with some battlescars.

[Theo]

Stay tuned.... you’ll see what the playing field’s like. In fairness, we’ve got a fantastic blend of different classes to really show off middleweights as a whole, couldn’t be prouder to see them all

[Ocracoke]

Well here we are, 31.2kg of Kaizen 1.0. The good news is that it moves fine, even on a very uneven wooden floor. Bad news, the pinion gear for the axe has slipped off again so I'll get that reseated back on the shaft and then I might actually have a weapon for Chatham. :P I'd say ~10mph which isn't fast but the small wheels mean it does at least get up to speed quite quickly.

[Ocracoke]

So Kaizen is ready as it will ever be. At the last minute, I fitted a 10mm thick polycarbonate wedge plate, primarily to square off the the side armour panels but also to deflect the ubiquitous spinners in the event. Held in with M8 bolts (of course) so should handle a fair bit of punishment in theory. The rear I've left as is but I'll bring a panel of HDPE just in case.

Only trouble is, on the uneven dining room floor, I may have set the wedge too low so it might catch on the arena floor. I'll find out during the event I suppose (Dremel at the ready :P). I've also added some extra weight/reinforcement to the axe arm but after Chatham, I am likely to rebuild the axe completely.

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[Triceratop]

Looking good Michael, best of luck, let us know how you get on..

[Retroman]

The wedge looks very nice! Good looking angle, I'll be keeping an eye out for the results.

Good look!

[Ocracoke]

Thanks folks.

Had a whiteboard match today with Audicious today, a fellow Middleweight. Kaizen did me proud, charged straight into it and Audicious eventually stopped moving (thnk they were having ESC issues). Managed to warp the steel brackets holding the side armour on and the wedge plate had to be taken off before the match, needs some serious surgery to get it to fit without dragging on the floor. The wiring was pretty hot as well but it moves at something approaching 15mph with Featherweight acceleration.

The axe is a bit pants. It moves but ponderously and seems stiff. Will examine tomorrow before the competition fights.

[Ocracoke]

So Kaizen came out of Chatham in one piece which I was most grateful for, despite meeting a couple of spinners. All videos are from Team Ironclads

Whiteboard - Kaizen vs Audacious
So I described the match in the last post but the warping of the steel brackets was actually more serious then I first thought. They were rather weakened by the initial impact and the front steel brackets had to be replaced with the ones from the middle of the side armour. That initial impact also shattered several bolts in the robot.

Competition Melee I - Kaizen vs Voodoo Chile vs Audacious vs Crackers
Before this match, I finally got the front polycarbonate wedge panel cut to clear the ground clearance and thickened up the leading edge with yet more bolts. Glad I did, Cracker's drum spinner was working. :S Kaizen was driving a little awkwardly and I think it was down the to the bent brackets which I tried to straighten but I couldn't get it straight which in turn caused the side armour to drag on the floor.This is the only match in which the robot broke down. The axe stopped working about halfway through the match and then Crackers launched Voodoo to land right on my axe motor but not before the drive packed up. I honestly have not got a clue as to why this happened but it did not happen again this weekend. I assume it was some kind of cutoff.

Competition Melee II - Kaizen vs Voodoo Chile vs Backflip vs Gaston
This was the fight I was happy I fitted the polycarbonate wedge on because I charged straight at Gaston (not sure if the name was Nogas) and the only mark was a long but shallow gouge in it. I ended up shunting Voodoo to the far end of the arena, forgot about the arena flipper and Kaizen did a 180. Just prior, Kaizen pushed not only Voodoo and Backflip! Voodoo got trapped under the floor flipper. Eventually managed to wiggle free but only at the very end.

Redemption fight - (Gnasher + Audacious) vs (Kaizen vs Voodoo Chile)
This was staged as the tag team match but in reality, this would the decider for 5th - 7th place (Sentinel would be 8th because they couldn't enter) as I understand it. Gnasher is a Heavyweight of 65kg. This match went badly for Kaizen as the landing on the back from the last match bent the side armour even more so even getting into the arena was a challenge. The match ended up with Kaizen stuck with Audacious after they broke down.

So ultimately, I ended up 6th in the competition, which given this is the robot's first outing, is awesome. Improvements are enroute, largely focusing on rebuilding the side armour with more box section and eventually rebuilding the axe with a new motor. The robot is very fast and a little uncontrollable in places. Some rubber on the front wheels will help no doubt. I think I can have Kaizen rebuilt with new wheels and replacement brackets by EXR Cheltenham for a day out.

A couple of photos, one on the Friday and the other on Sunday just before the redemption fight in reverse order.
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[Samy]

It was a pleasure to meet you. Good Luck for your next Fights.
PS: We were just able to Fight on Sunday with Sentinel which was more some Kind of FUn FIght for us cause we had to get back to Austria on Sunday very early.

[Ocracoke]

Thanks, It was great seeing you too with your robots! I hope to see you next year

[Team Helix]

Yes nice to meet all of you as well. If all you need is grip, then buy a knobbly bike tire and fix it to your existing wheels using screws. You could use Box section on the sides or (although I cannot remember fully) regarding the side "brackets" could you rotate every other one 180 deg to make it stronger?

[Ocracoke]

I have some Neoprene rubber strips that I was meant to attach to the front wheels but didn't have time to do. As for the sides, yes, same size box armour on the sides to replace the brackets and then remake the side armour. Also properly square it off with some threaded bar to mount front and rear wedges on.

Loved Backflip, definitely an imposing Middleweight, so pleased when it did self right

[Team Helix]

Just wish i could have got a flip in. Next time.

[Ocracoke]

Definitely get a flip in, it does look pretty impressive when it does do a flip