Project Squirrel

[Outlaw]

Alright, long time no update, but now that I've had a sit down and think about it, I have an idea of getting the front panels on more securely. By making some brackets along the angled areas of the front of the robot. That way, if need be, I can cut the front panels to sections rather than one big piece. Although it may end up being a little weaker around the front, there're a few ways of making it stronger afterwards, such as cross sections.

You know, now that I typed it up, I honestly should draw something out to make it a little more clearer about what I'm going to do with Ratatoskr...

[Outlaw]

Well, unfortunately, back to plan B, which means redoing the entire body. The electronics are alright, but thanks to my general incompetence, the body acts like it's a 30 piece jigsaw with 2/3 pieces missing. BUT I'm going to use this experience to move forward, and take my time. Not only that, I also have plans and ideas for a new body already. Just need to get it down onto paper.
Not only that, need to give a shout out to my grandfather, who's agreed to help me with this all, especially the cutting of the next body of Ratatoskr. Fingers crossed I can salvage some of the plastic from this iteration, and fingers crossed I actually keep it f*cking simpler.

Sidenote: the weapon will still be the same, that isn't going to change haha.

[Outlaw]

So, quick little update, I've been advised to template everything out of cheap, equal thickness yoga mats, and build that to a 1 to 1 scale now, before hitting up the plastic again. Hopefully by doing this, I'll be able to get everything aligned, placed neatly and tidily, make notes as to what needs changing here and there, and so on and so forth. Thankfully I've got plenty of yoga mats to work with, considering this is the only thing I'd be doing with them, not yoga, haha.

[Outlaw]

I have an honest question;

Would it be easier to 3D model it all out first on say Fusion 360, flatpack that and get it all cut out by a third party, or should I continue with the yoga mat approach?

[Ocracoke]

That depends on how able you are to use Fusion or a similar CAD program and wherever you are comfortable doing that. If you feel confident in using a CAD program to design your robot, cool but prototyping from material can also work, it does help inform you what the robot will look like in real life and what the potential pitfalls of that design might be, CAD might not immediately tell you this. I tend to sit down with a pen and paper, build the machine from there and if I need complex/accurate parts, then I CAD those (it is what I am doing for my middleweight).

[Outlaw]

I start this update after a long *ss time of not managing to update anyone, but I still plan on working on this robot, even as I write this up on my birthday. 27 today, so that's fun haha.

I've been debating on whether or not to order some plastic that's cut to the basic sizes of the robot itself, so I can just trim and so on and so forth. Or to at least get the stuff like the side panels, baseplate, back panel and middle sections. I've drawn out everything over and over, just to see if everything'd fit, tabs and all, and go from there, marking up the screw markings and motor positions.

That would work, right?

[Ocracoke]

I think so. That's kind of how I've been angling on my Middleweight in that I order the basic size of the sheets I need and then cut it to shape as required. The planning you mention should mean it should all fit but can nothing be reused from the previous attempt?

[Outlaw]

Well a majority of the plastic I've used like the baseplate, centre pieces and sideplates'll be useless unless I decide to turn them into little wedgelets, but the electrical stuff's fine, just need some rejigging here and there, possibly a little rewiring, but everything electrical is pretty much good.

If anything, I'd need to figure out how to cut the lights out of the previous attempt and attach them to the new one... maybe I'll just make it as a separate sunken panel and cover it with a clear plastic to protect those lights.

[Outlaw]

So, a genuine concern popped up in my head earlier, and I'm just wishing to know... are there any dimensional rules I have to follow? Like, having to be under a certain width/height/length? If so, then I might have to completely rethink my design or just full on shrink it down by half or so.

[Roboteernat]

There isnt a restriction really with dimensions, just the bigger you make it, then thinner or less weight you have free for armour.

[Ocracoke]

As Nat says, there isn't any (unlike the AW class which does) for Feathers, so long as it can fit in the door :P

[Roboteernat]

Yeah, sorry i ha my featherweight head on, yes ants have a 4inch cube rule, BBB have bigger dimensions for some of their bogebot buils - check the bbb web pages for those, but beetle up dont.

[Outlaw]

God I haven't touched this in a year... bloody hell.

So I got to thinking... because my cutting skills are shocking, and I've been getting more and more ideas in my head, I'm gonna try and convince a certain someone to see if I can get a company or someone to cut out some plastic for me, and to add to that, see if there's a way to make a decent electric hammer/axe with some force behind it. Of course I'll have to draw it out first, but you know, the ideas are there. So as soon as I get the ideas all drawn out, maybe I can get back into building.

Covid blows more than a busted leaf blower...

[Ocracoke]

Happy to help out if you need it.

[Roboteernat]

If you do need come cheap cutting help of chasis/plastic and aluminium bits or even carbon fibre, Ive been doing some work for other roboteers too, so could offer a hand. check me out on facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Team-SC-Rob...01523448753652 and https://www.facebook.com/PoateRobotics