Unnamed FW crusher build diary

[Al_]

Update time again, and since I still can’t find any previous robots with the name of Pressure Point, I’m going with that.

As expected it’s the little repetitive jobs that are taking all the time. First up, I have finished attaching the front wedge onto the chassis. To keep things simple, I’m holding it all together with holed and threaded square section, taking the inspiration from Pulsar and the like. This means I have been starting with plain 12mm square 6082 aluminium section, cutting to length, drilling holes in it, threading the holes, drilling matching ones on the pieces to be joined, countersinking them and so on…..And its time consuming, but all part of the fun. After a while, the front wedge was properly attached.

Next up, the housing at the back for the drive motors. This part is designed to be modular so it’s easy to remove for repairs or to swap/upgrade drive motors at a later date. All made from HDPE, the parts have been cut out by a friend on his CNC. There are 2 of the Argos value 12v drill motor/gearboxes, each is held between 2 HDPE bulkheads to secure it, which in turn are secured to a front and back plate with barrel bolts and countersunk hex screws:
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The drive motor assembly then attaches to the chassis with the same holed and threaded box section the holds the rest of it together, so it was back to drilling and tapping. Here it is bolted on, however at this point I found the first main mistake that I have made. The holes for the upper fixing were off by a few mm, so I had to elongate them to make it fit. I’m not really happy with this so I’ll have to take a look at the CAD to see if I can figure out where I went wrong and then get another one cut.
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Next up, the base plate. I have only had time to get one fixing in it so far but it gives you an idea of how it’s going to look. The design is slightly asymmetrical, but it saves a few grams of weight, so be it. Once this is on and properly fixed, I’ll look to getting all the electrics fitted.
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On a final note, I have seen videos of people using taps in a battery drill to thread holes. This would speed things up for me a bit, so I was wondering, can I just put my normal tap in the drill and use it that way? Or if I do that am I likely to break something and do I need a special tap for doing it that way?