How Could I Improve...

[andrewj]

How Could I Improve...

Ah, the things you are referring to are known as linear actuators. They are pretty much electrically operated rams. But like you, I know little about them I€™m afraid.

Otherwise, the stats now look pretty much perfect. No doubt someone will point out some more details for the pneumatics and batteries could be given, but as I barely include this myself I can€™t really comment.

Coinst

Not bad at all, very WX 6.0 style. :wink:

Lower the speed a little, add some battery details and it€™s fine.

Namie€™s Style

How low is low pressure? Again, if you have any details on ram sizes, that always helps.

Another almost faultless first attempt at a vapourbot.

[joey_picus]

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Ah. I thought they were different things...never mind, and thanks for the help

[bartmanhomer]

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I really need to edit Sir Spinalot. But Im having a hard time doing that.

[kodster]

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How so?

[davids]

How Could I Improve...

Can someone check this machine out for me.

Name - A Sweet Summers Night On Hammer Hill.

WEIGHT: About 980 Newtons, okay 100 kg mass

SHAPE: It€™s a box, with curved sides to deflect spinners and to prevent resting, with a low wedge at the front

COLOUR: Green

DRIVE: 2 Lem€™s (14 volts) powering 4 Storm 2 style wheels. No idea about batteries

SPEED: Max velocity of about 11 metres per second, but it€™s rare for me to open the taps and allow the beast to full power.

GROUND CLEARANCE: Pretty much zero at the front, and 0mm around the sides with skirts fitted, a nice healthy 15mm without skirts. The skirts can be removed if the battle requires (like coming up against a nasty spinner)

ARMOUR: The Chassis is some box section steel as the base, with some triangular supports where needed, and with some protective foam where needed, the armour itself is some 3.6mm Hardox around the sides and top, where the base-plate is plain old steel. The body shell has quite a few bolts bolting it to the main chassis, where each of the bolts is protected from shearing off due to impacts.

WEAPONS: It€™s an axe, powered by a parvalux PM60M DC motor at 24 volts, which comes with a gearbox, allowing 2 speeds; the axe has interchangeable heads (A nasty spike, an executioner€™s blade or 6 small spikes in a circle to batter other machines). The beauty of having an electric motor is that if the other machine is stuck on the wedge, I can get fast repeated blows in without having to redraw the axe fully.

SRIMECH: At the rear of the machine is a linear actuator powered lifting arm used to self-right the machine.

NOTES: The drive system is designed to give the best feedback and control.

STRENGTHS: Good driver, nasty axe
WEAKNESSES: Can only attack from the front

[joey_picus]

How Could I Improve...

I presume you mean 24 volts?

Otherwise, in my completely unqualified opinion it looks good, no glaring problems apart from the batteries...I think just saying what type and how many would be enough, maybe 4 NiCd packs or something like that.

[andrewj]

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A Sweet Summer€™s Night On Hammer Hill

Is the rear also curved as well as the sides? What sort of LEM€™s are you using - 130, 170, 200? Why are you only running them at 14v? To help the writers, use 25mph rather than 11m/s. ~25mph is also a little high for my liking, but that is personal preference. What are your skirts made of? What thickness is the steel you are using? How are you planning on changing the gears for the axe? How long is the axe and what is it made of? Can the linear actuated arm be used as a weapon? Why don€™t you just use the axe to self right you? Why do people still intentionally provide weaknesses in their stats for opponents to exploit?

Nice bot Dave!

[davids]

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Didnt notice that, lem 130s at 24 volts
To help the writers, use 25mph rather than 11m/s. ~25mph is also a little high for my liking, but that is personal preference.

I did say it was the max speed, just because a vehicle has a top speed of 100+ mph doesnt mean it has to drive at top speed all the time, its just nice to have a little extra power to escape sticky situations

What are your skirts made of?
I dont know, what do you suggest?

What thickness is the steel you are using?
Does 10mm bars sound alright?

How are you planning on changing the gears for the axe?
By the use of a switch on the controller

How long is the axe and what is it made of?
would you say 50cm is a good length?
And Steel for material. Although Im thinking about having a sword-blade attached to the arm itself.

Can the linear actuated arm be used as a weapon?
Not really,

Why don€™t you just use the axe to self right you?
The axe might get stuck in the floor.

Why do people still intentionally provide weaknesses in their stats for opponents to exploit?

Good point

Joey - Batteries were never my strong point

[leorcc]

How Could I Improve...

Batteries are pretty simple:

SLA: Sealed Lead Acid. Usually 12V sometimes 6V. High current output but heavies. For 24V you would need 2 SLAs, 3 for 36V. Most common are 7Ah, 9Ah, 12Ah, 15Ah, and 17Ah. The more Amphours the batteries, the heavier they are and the longer they can produce power. a 7Ah SLA is about 2.7 kg, a 17Ah around 7kg.

Nicad: Nickel Cadmium. 1.2V per cell, most common are 2200mAh and 3000mAh. roughly 85 grams per cell. you would need 20 for 24V, 30 for 36V. They cannot provide as much current in 1 pack as an SLA can, so you will need to put 2 packs side by side at least for Boshes, and for your precious lems and magmotors I would not attempt anything less than 4 packs side by side, or you will blow them up and burn.

Nimh: nickel-metal hydride. Its pretty much the same story as Nicad, but they keep their voltage up longer (also 1.2V per cell) but they cant give as much current as Nicads in one go. They are also lighter, around 65grams per cell. I drive 1 heavy on Nimh and i use for 2 boshes 3 24V packs of 3700mAh. Most used cells are Sanyo 3600mAh, GP3700mAh, GP4300mAh. They have the least internal resistance so they will not heat up as fast as other nimh.

Then there are Lithium based batteries but in fra rules only LiFePo4 will be allowed in heavies in the future.

[knightrous]

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quote:

I did say it was the max speed, just because a vehicle has a top speed of 100+ mph doesnt mean it has to drive at top speed all the time, its just nice to have a little extra power to escape sticky situations

The issue with that is that you gearing will not be as suited for acceleration or pushing. So you potentially only gain extra speed that you dont plan on gaining, while losing torque/acceleration that youll be using lots of, repeatedly...

quote:

How are you planning on changing the gears for the axe?
By the use of a switch on the controller

Unless that gearbox has some fancy syncro mesh gears and a clutch, good luck with changing gears while powered... If you want to try it, go to your local hardware store, find a two speed drill and try changing gears while drilling....

[andrewj]

How Could I Improve...

€œjust because a vehicle has a top speed of 100+ mph doesnt mean it has to drive at top speed all the time€ - Yes, that is true about vehicles, but since when were vapourbots even remotely similar to vehicles? They don€™t have accelerators, they don€™t have gears, and they don€™t have breaks€¦ we cannot control how fast they go to the same effect. If you never intend to drive at this top speed, why is it there?

Skirts€¦ just some thin 3mm Titanium or something. Skirts are something I€™m cutting down on, as they never work, use up weight and just provide more things for spinners to rip off. 10mm Steel bars sounds okay, but what about that on the base plate?

€œBy the use of a switch on the controller€ - what does this switch actually do?

Aaron pretty much hit the nail on the head, the gear change probably wouldn€™t work, and what is its purpose anyway? Nice idea, but ineffective.

[joey_picus]

How Could I Improve...

Presented for your approval, since I mentioned how there was a decline in axes then realised I dont have one yet...

Name pending
WEIGHT: 100kgs
DIMENSIONS: 95 x 55 x 30 cm
SHAPE: Box with wedge, only the wedge is in two sections making something of a shallow plow shape.
COLOUR: Pending. will probably involve yellow and chevrons in some way
DRIVE: 4 24v DeWalt drill motors driving 4 wheels running off 6 6v NiCd packs. Normally 4 of these are used giving 24v, but an R/C switch can switch on all 6 packs at 36v giving extra speed and power for short periods. (this is the bit Im worried about, I dont know if the DeWalts are powerful enough or if they would survive 36v)
SPEED: 15mph average, 25mph under 36v boost
GROUND CLEARANCE: Wheels can be pneumatically raised/lowered (using a compressed air system seperate from the axe pneumatics) to give a minimum of 0 all around (this grounds it however) with a maximum of 50mm clearance, but normally has 5mm with 0 at the tip of the body.
ARMOUR: 4mm hardox front, sides and rear with 3mm titanium and 4mm polycarbonate on the top and 3mm aluminium base.
WEAPONS: Pneumatic axe on the front, running from a rack and pinion system and 2 2.5kg CO2 tanks giving about 40 hits in a match. The axe head is shaped similarly to Shunts but is tungsten tipped, weighs 5kg and can punch through 6mm titanium and dent hardox. Also has a big spike on the back.
SRIMECH: Via the weapon, which should be powerful enough to pull it over if it gets stranded on its sides.
NOTES: Base is coated with silicone rubber sheet to make it more difficult to push when in sit down mode. Internal components shock mounted for protection.
STRENGTHS: Very difficult to push or flip, good pushing power and weapon
WEAKNESSES: Armour could be better, raising/lowering system takes a second or so to work

[joey_picus]

How Could I Improve...

Forgot to add, the axe shaft is steel and about 70cm long.

*kicks editing time*

[craig_anto]

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yea dewalts would survive 36v but need the bursh housing remaking to cope with the higher tempreture hands up whos done it

[davids]

How Could I Improve...

Scrap the gearing on the axe