Project Squirrel

[Ocracoke]

So the batteries are definitely fully charged and the connections between them and the ESCs are in good condition? I'd verify those first before calling it - the original Badger suffered from this sort of problem due to shoddy soldering and even the current one can suffer from this if I've only got one side connected up properly.

One final question, is the LED light mandatory? As I think the ones I replaced them with shorted out... and if that's the case, then I'm going to have to go on the hunt for more LED lights that can handle 18v... or as the battery charger likes to say "21"... not sure if that's the actual voltage, but okay...

Yes, the LED lights (I'd go for two lights - one for drive and another for the weapon) are mandatory. I have uprate the lights on mine due to the voltage jump from 13.2v Nominal to 19.8v Nominal. Something like this that goes up to 24v apparently- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-Cabled-...53.m1438.l2649

[RogueTwoRobots]

Sounds like your receiver is what's playing up and affecting the ESCs. Do you have a different receiver to try it with?

And yes, a power LED is mandatory. If you can only find 12V ones and you're running 18V+, the just wire up two LEDs in series, as each one will then see half of the total robot voltage.

[Outlaw]

Well, disaster has struck again. The weapon motor has burnt out. I had to do some quick surgery to get the now binned motor out of the robot, which has set me back several days.

So now, I'm going to have to be on the lookout for an 18v scooter motor to power the weapon up and such, then work out a solution for mounting it and go from there.

Thankfully, I managed to save the wiring. Had to redo the Y lead soldering so now it's a little neater, so to speak. So no problems with ESC, batteries or Rx, which is great... just need to figure out... if I'm to make the Manchester deadline, do I turn Ratatoskr into an invertible pushbot, or stick to my guns and go for the axe/club?

[Outlaw]

My problem is right now that the sign up for Manchester went up a couple of days ago, and I'm sitting here with Ratatoskr only half working. Should I buy a 24v scooter motor and run it at 18v? Or should I make it a push bot just for the event and try to work something out with the weapon at some point? Bearing in mind that it's all hand and eye measured, drilled and cut, seeming as my mother won't allow me to buy a cheap pillar drill stand where I can put the drill in, and I don't know if there's any super cheap and reliable CNC machines.

[Maxamuslead]

You got a photo of your bot so far,

Also you can run the motor on 18v fine, it just won't have as much power

And lets get this bot done first before getting a cnc, I don't think your mother would happy with you getting a CNC router as they can have a larger footprint and costs £500 min to get one big enough for cutting featherweight and that is a "cheap" chinese router. Anyway some on near by might be able to help you out when it come to that.

[Ocracoke]

My problem is right now that the sign up for Manchester went up a couple of days ago,

Eh? When (and where) did this happen?

Should I buy a 24v scooter motor and run it at 18v?

When you say scooter motor.... do you mean the MY1020 variants? If so, I am quite happy to lend you one of Kaizen's drive motors, they are 500w with a gearbox attached but I will need it back. Comes with the "out of the box" gear sprocket on it.

Ultimately, even if you don't get the weapon going, I'd still go if only for the experience and "stress testing" of your drive.

[Outlaw]

@Ocracoke On John Findlay's facebook page, or the "Roaming Robots!!!" page on facebook. And as much as that'd be great, I'd rather have a more permanent option. But thank you for the offer. Just need to convince my mom so I can get one, haha. And as for the stress test, that doesn't sound too bad actually. If all goes well, it'd just give me more ideas on how to improve Ratatoskr.

@Maxamuslead I do not unfortunately, and I figured as much, haha. She wouldn't enjoy having a large piece of machinery in her kitchen like that haha.

[Maxamuslead]

If it is Ratatoskr your on about you could use one of THESE scooter motors, it would be easier to fit where the drill motor + gearbox and would be similar RPM, could be a solution looking in to

[Outlaw]

That could be a good replacement, actually. Besides, I need to make new mounts for it (thanks to the quick surgery removal of the burnt up drill motor) so if anything, that might end up being the best idea. But once again, I'm gonna have to convince my mom about it, haha.

[Ocracoke]

How did the motor burn out?