Team Kaizen Build Diary

[Ocracoke]

Hahahaa! It might be made to be scared a little sooner than I thought. I found some 90mm long bolts that will work as drive shafts and the shaft mounts will take a M6 bolt without adaptation (they were sold as being M5s I think) so really, it is just the M10 bolts to hold the motor mounts in. I think, based on a test I did, they need to be about 110mm long. I might treat the wheels to some new M8 bolts that are slightly shorter to clear the wheel well as well. I also have some wheels around from an aborted BW project that will work as fixed castor wheels at the front.

After that, I'll reassemble the body and get the RageBridge installed and running.

[Ocracoke]

Jibril
Well it has been a bit of a slog in places. Turns out the bolts I found were 80, not 90mm long and ended up having to carve up some 100mm long bolts to make proper length driveshafts on the wheels. The M8 bolts holding the gears onto the wheels needed shortening and flipping around as well to fit in the wheel well gaps. There was a lot to do in just getting the wheels on the thing but they are finally on.

Of course the thing works! Doesn't initially seem to be any worse for wear from the old to the new body though the Cytron definitely will not fit in the new body so it is the RageBridge or nothing. In a Middleweight, I suspect this will be OK. There is a fair bit of adjusting to do on it I think, especially the front castor wheels which I think needs testing on a flat surface first before deciding on wherever they need working on. I still need to adjust the motor mount clamps to make them fit my skewed bolts but nothing drastic (seriously, thanks Nat for doing them). And now for a video montage of getting to this stage.

Seriously chuffed to get to this stage. Next steps are:

• Reinstall front and back panels.
• Measure and order metal panels to attach to them.
• Add in some extra mounts to make the front and back panels more structural.
• Make a whole new wiring loom.
• Install the Ragebridge.
• Make a battery compartment.

[froggy]

Quick tip....

Before cutting the bolt to length ...put on the nut...as you undo the nut after cutting..it cleans up the thread

[Ocracoke]

Thanks, will try to remember that for future cutting! It was more a case of "I want it done" and where they were going on the robot (to hold the wheel on) didn't require that much in the way of neatness per se.

[RogueTwoRobots]

Nice work!

it is the RageBridge or nothing. In a Middleweight, I suspect this will be OK.

For reference, I run a RageBridge in Shunt on two 24V 800W scooter motors on 6S. Shunt weighs about 96kg and it happily shifts that, so switching to the Rage for yours will be fine I'm sure.

[McMullet]

Great work. And I like your safety precautions for test driving.

[Ocracoke]

Great work. And I like your safety precautions for test driving.

Hahaaaa, thanks! Didn't really fancy being rammed into with the metal arms sticking out of it.

For reference, I run a RageBridge in Shunt on two 24V 800W scooter motors on 6S. Shunt weighs about 96kg and it happily shifts that, so switching to the Rage for yours will be fine I'm sure.

Sounds promising. I need to read on the specs of the RageBridge but I need it running 8S LiFe which it can accommodate though I would suspect extra cooling wouldn't go amiss. Good that it has the headroom to go to 8S LiPo if I really wanted to though I suspect none of the motors will like that (ref: http://e0designs.com/prod/rage2/rage...-v2-manual.pdf).

[Ocracoke]

Jibril
So I've been trying to work on adding in extra structural supports into the robot to make the front and back panels non-freestanding. One side is in progress and should be done tonight if I can get working on it. The other side I'll get done soon enough. I've had a look at the RageBridge and it shouldn't be too difficult to put back into service. I've also noticed one of the wheels is catching on the wheel well, preventing it moving freely so that side has to come out and the well adjusted.

With that in mind, making the new loom and getting it mobile again shouldn't take too long provided I can get my hands on the right bits and pieces. Once the structural improvements are done, I can get the thing measured up to have some extra Armox panels on it. One thing that has become a concern, of sorts, is weight. It feels heavy already with it nowhere near finished. Gonna have to clear the shed to put this in... :P

[Ocracoke]

I think a month might be the longest I've not updated the build thread! Oops. Video's of both are coming.

Jibril
The extra support bracing is in but I am having a nightmare with the soldering. This largely comes down to the soldering iron in my new "workshop" being on the wrong side and I've ran out of solder. So new 10AWG wiring and some solder is on order. Pass on when they'll appear though.

Azriel
I've started work on replacing the very weak but quite nice looking 3:1 CIM motor arrangement with the 4.5:1 F30-150 motor arrangement from Jibril 1.2 with a view to finally replacing the very old HDPE axe arm with a all metal affair. Rather interestingly, the weight left over means I could fit the original 3.5kg Scythe-Axe as well but the weight imbalance is what caused it to not work with this gear arrangement so it does need a new one.

[Ocracoke]

Correction, this is the longest I've gone without updating! :P

Azriel
Azriel is now at 1.0 and with only a few little niggles here and there to sort. It has 6S LiFe and the original 4.5:1 gearbox arrangement from Jibril 1.x. I had hoped to get a all new metal axe cut but with things the way they are at the moment, I've resorted to putting on a metal chisel on the HDPE axe Jibril sported back in RL Burgess Hill 2019.

I do have a video montage of that coming. I was meant to have released that last week or so but I reviewed the footage and I wasn't happy with some of it so it needs redoing.

Jibril
The gears arrived for the axe and I've made a mockup of the removable carrier that the axe mechanism is going to sit in. My 60W soldering iron died and my 25W, whilst it works, is driving me nuts so I'll get a new, beefier soldering iron for this. Now that Azriel is "finished" (no robot really is but there you are :P), my full focus is on this until it is done.

[McMullet]

Good to hear you're making progress Lucy! Look forward to seeing the pics and videos.

[Ocracoke]

Jibril
Installed the Ragebridge into the robot and soldered up a new wiring loom for it. I've clearly forgotten how to solder but it is kind of done, needs branching off for the weapon. The bodywork also needs adaptation to add in a channel to run the wiring through to the other side of the robot.

Took a brief video of the robot driving around. Bit of an oddity as left was forwards, right was backwards, forwards was turn right and so on on the controller.

Next stage is to get the armour plates CADed up and then work on the weapon.

[McMullet]

Yeeees! Looks very nippy and well-controlled.

[Ocracoke]

Aww thanks! I definitely need to sort out the radio controls but it works well enough for the moment. Next stop, the big axe. Speaking of axes...

Azriel
Finally the video is done! This has been an absolute headache. I couldn't find music that suited it, I couldn't correct a audio problem that meant it crackled, the whole thing has been through two renditions but here it is, for better or for worse. As noted in the video, it does still need a locking pin, tether and painting with a metal axe but works well enough for now.

[Roboteernat]

Oohhh fantastic. nice power from the axe. Whats the total weight of the FW now?