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Thread: Team Health & Safety - First Time Builder

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  1. #11
    With the main chassis done I thought I’d do the honorable job of actually weighing most of the parts to get an impression of the eventual weight.

    IMG_20170919_155440.jpg


    The outlook was grim. This was the total amount of weight of all present parts, with one glaring omission: the 210g lifter motor. This naturally would send the eventual machine overweight. My eventual calculations, including all various bits of metal fasteners and the like, predicted a weight of over 1600 grams.

    Now even though TINAD Mk1 was never actually weighed at the Euro Champs (confession time OOOO) one needs to play fair in these instances, so this meant I was to experience what has become a rite of passage among roboteers: putting the machine on a diet. You immediately start looking where there’s excess fat that can be trimmed off. There’s some titanium edges sticking out? Cut them off. That piece of plastic is too wide? Narrow it down. There are some unattended pieces of flat metal or plastic? Drill holes.

    After shaving of some more plastic, I grabbed some cardboard, put on the wheels and mocked it up to get a feel for the new design.

    IMG_20170921_175643.jpg

    I must say was rather pleased... all chassis parts were new and different, but somehow the machine looked very similar - something which (in my opinion at least) a next evolution should always strive to do.

    Having the mock-up I also got to test-fit the components that I’ll be using - it’s all nice and dandy to have the dimensions on paper, but the actual practical dimensions are slightly more important. There were however a few concessions I was not willing to make (and which I’ll probably end up regretting but hey, one needs a challenge every now and then).


    1. Them new RC wheels are staying. Yes, they’re more than three times as heavy as those foamy Fingertechs the Mk1 was sporting but OHMYGOD do these look sexy. And they grip, oh yesss they grip. I know it’s a bit style over substance but hey, I also ride into battle sporting a Playmobil figurine which interferes with selfrighting so there’s also that.
    2. Speaking of which - Tina the mascot stays. She’s 12 grams but you can’t compromise on awesomeness ofcourse


    Nevertheless, for slimming down I carefully looked at each part and decided on a plan of attack.


    • The wheelguards could be slimmed down from 5mm to 3mm HDPE. The 5mm was overkill anyways - two vertical spinners hit either side head-on and barely got halfway through.
    • Both the baseplate and the top plate would change from Ti to 3mm HDPE. This would also give me a chance to prevent them screw heads from protruding the baseplate. The Mk1 top plate was made from 2mm Ti, which was ofcourse INSANE.


    In the side rails of the chassis I saw there was also some excess meat, begging for a hole to be drilled into it. Being HDPE it wouldn’t save that much, but as it’s not in a vulnerable place behind both a wheel ánd a wheel guard I’d say every bit helps.

    IMG_20170928_135357.jpg

    The beauty of the interlocking structure occurred to me again though. You can just pick the chassis up from any corner and even though there's not a single screw or bolt keeping plastic together, you can still fling it through the room and it will not come apart.

    Fitting the lifter motor it dawned on me there was some extra space I could make use of - mainly to make the chassis 10mm narrower, which would spare me some further weight.

    IMG_20171001_123340.jpg

    However, this in turn also meant I had to take a bit off the lifter motor axle. I took the motor apart, shaved off the excess metal from the shaft and then put it back in. I also saw it as the perfect opportunity to loctite all the screws holding the gearbox in place.

    IMG_20171001_180340.jpg

    After some fiddling about, this was the assembly of the lifter motor. It's still lacking shockproofing but it gives an idea of what to expect. The added bonus of the HDPE front plate is that it gives some springiness to the motor assembly.

    IMG_20171001_180650.jpg

    And here's how it looked inside the new chassis. As you can tell space is quite limited, but as there's more room higher up everything should fit. All motors are now tested and seem to be working perfectly.. I'm looking forward to fitting all the electronics in there.

    (not so much looking forward to then putting the thing on a scale but alright)
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    Last edited by Zenith; 1st October 2017 at 19:21.

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