Team MeltDown Build Diary

[Graw]

Well engineered?! HA! I have no clue what I'm doing, it just looks cool If it doesn't face plant instantly when lifting a proper load then I will be impressed.

@R9000 - Sprocket guards coming soon!

Lmao well it LOOKS well engineered Im sure you will work it all out fine and when it does will be cool to see in action

[Giles]

So most of you probably followed the build on facebook, but if you didn't then here are some pictures. I stupidly didn't take any shots of finished mantis before its fights, so if anybody has a picture of that I would like to see it!

Wheels and molds for them:



The hubs. Printed in Carbon/Nylon


The grab actuator block


Waterjet parts




Assembly




Last shots I have are before adding the wheels and wiring.

[daveimi]

God this is pretty, did you go to insomnia?

[Giles]

Yes I did! Only won one fight out of 5 however, with the 5th one (Conker 3) doing too much damage to my internals to carry on for another fight. Extremely fun bot to drive (hard to control the claw), I think it has potential with some improvements. Definitely popular with the crowds.

[Rapidrory]

Hey Giles, this is the mechanism I was suggesting as a possible option for simpler claw control..

[Giles]

This is my current thinking behind the new grab/lift mechanism. The top arm needs a spring to allow the cycle to finish regardless of what stage the top claw grabs the target at.

[MrkLeigh]

Very impressive Giles! Have you made any BW wheels using the same prosess as you did for your featherweight? Do you have any videos on YouTube or Facebook of your Featherweight in action?

[Giles]

Mantis 2.0 build is in full motion!
Mantis V2 is designed to fix many of the issues Mantis v1 had. It's now on entirely brushless drive and lift motors for better driving performance. It's using 4wd belt driven drive pods with 80mmx50mm wheels for good traction. The frame will be made from 2024 Alu and the outer armour is a mixture of 5mm grade 5 titanium and hardox. Claws are now 5mm gr5 titanium too.

A big upgrade to the design is the new claw which uses only one motor to grab and lift, this will simplify driving and hopefully make the bot easier to control.

Some CAD pics, one showing the close up of the new lifter gearbox for extra lifting power (64:1 saturn, 2:1 gearbox, 3:1 pulley)
Here are some of the CAD renders. Close up on the lifter gearbox, hopefully a more robust solution than Mantis v1.
CAD.jpgCAD.pngliftmech.png

Drive pod bits, these are all 6082 alu with steel wheel axles and gears. Wheels themselves are cast polyurethane 60A using 3D printed nylon hubs and 3D printed molds.

DriveBox.jpgDrivePod.jpgWheel.jpg

These are all the nylon printed parts in one wheel pod:

3DPrintWheelParts.jpg

And here is a jumble of bits in the works, upper claw, front armor pods, pics from CNC shop of frame in progress and the lift motor connected to a 64:1 saturn...

Claw.jpgFrameProgress.jpgFrontPontoon.jpgmotor.jpg

A fair bit left to do, but things are shaping up nicely. More updates to come

[Maxamuslead]

that looks fab, did you machine all the Alu yourself or did you a firm to do it or what ?

[Giles]

Thanks, Alu is all machined by a firm, yea. I sourced the 2024 myself as it can be tricky to find, and then had it cnc'd.