Well, I've decided to have a go at this...

[Metal Demons]

Re: Well, I've decided to have a go at this...

Oh, I fully accept the risk of getting flipped and not being able to right myself... that's what you get only being able to run one way up and no self-righter, after all The idea of the skirts is two fold: to minimise ground clearance and therefore avoid flipping, and to try and guide any really obscenely low rammers/lifters/whatevers upwards to get smacked by the big spinning bar. If I get lifted up there's a third defence which is the bar knocking into the ground and hopefully throwing me away and back down... but we'll see when it comes to that!

As of now, the preliminary design is approximately 3 and a half inches high, with the bar spinning ~4 inches off the ground - which should send it smacking into most things out there I've heard about.

[tom_kane]

Re: Well, I've decided to have a go at this...

I haven€™t read the rest of this thread so I€™m not sure if anyone has said this, but can I just advise you, before you start collecting parts and start the build. Come to a show and see what kind of opposition you will have, how things have changed since RW and what we do etc.

I have seen quite a few people build feathers and then go to their first event with them. After the event, they will scrap the whole robot and start again. This is ok but...expensive.

Goodluck!

[psycho_fling]

Re: Well, I've decided to have a go at this...

personally id make the bar spin lower becuase there are many low machines out there

[Metal Demons]

Re: Well, I've decided to have a go at this...

Oh, I'll try to make it up to see what's going on when I can, hopefully sooner rather than later...

As for the height issue, with the bar on top I really can't see how to get it spinning much lower than 4 inches from the ground... maybe 3.5 or just over with both the top and bottom chassis plates in Ti, and that's pushing it. The disc motor and gearbox limits how thin I can make the machine. The idea of the sprung skirts is to force the lower machines up into the blade... I'll see how it goes talking to people. If it's too much of a problem I could always scrap the current plans and go for an undercutter...

[psycho_fling]

Re: Well, I've decided to have a go at this...

like other people on here i talk alot on msn so u can add me if you want

[RogueTwoRobots]

Re: Well, I've decided to have a go at this...

I think you'll be fine having the blade 4 inches off the ground. I've just gone through my pictures from the most recent featherweight championships and while there are a few low robots out there, there are more that are 4 inches or higher, so you should make contact with a lot of them. And even if they are lower than 4 inches, you'll have the skirts to coax your opponents up into the blade :twisted:

If you decide to go for an undercutter, I'd suggest trimming the blade to about 600mm long max (depending on design) as you'd probably be looking at a very large and structurally weak robot otherwise.

Sounds like, with the CNC and all, that it should come together pretty quickly. Think you would have it ready for the tag team championships in September if you throw a drag-racer together too?

[Metal Demons]

Re: Well, I've decided to have a go at this...

Pretty sure I will do, once exams are all over and I finalise designs it should come together worryingly quickly.

Nope, not going to be an undercutter :twisted: as I was saying before, that's what the skirts are for...

As for a drag racer, while it would be tempting to get a trashed kart from the kart track my mate works at, hammer it back into shape, and weld a bunch of chainsaws on to power the back axle... I'll probably (if I go) just end up getting a battered old belt sander or circular saw or something, and cable tying some poles on to make it go in a straight line :P