Team Kaizen - The Honey Badger

[Ocracoke]

I didn't know which robot got torn up initially, only when the remenants were put in the loading pen I realised. Felt really sorry for you, was convinced it was a write-off. Yet you made it into the next battle!

Quite a few did to be honest, myself included for a moment.

An interesting looking design, wasn't neophyte quite short? Are you aiming for invertable? Being honest it doesn't look that much wider than 2.0, seems it's going to be a compact little thing and 15mm!? Damn son.

As noted, Neophyte is bigger than your typical feather - The Honey Badger 2 in its widest incarnation was 510mm wide. The bodywork on The Honey Badger 3 is 480mm wide plus whatever the wheels are going to be but it is the plough that is the widest point, likely to clock in at 600mm wide, depending on what I end up using for that. I am indeed aiming for invertible, trying to get hold of some specialist RC wheels again that should fit the bill nicely.

Yeah, the main bodywork is 450x100mm so very compact, hence the double deck thing. It'll make more sense when I've got that bit built.

Going to be following quite closely, I can't wait to see the brushless drive take shape, it's going to be pretty nippy with those motors anyway..

Even with the Gimson motors, it is going to be fast. With the KEDA motors, it is probably not going to be substantially faster owing to a low Kv rating but it is unlikely to be stopped in a hurry. The brushed motors (775 type) give out about 215W per side, the KEDA motors are rated for around 1500W. The motors have been ordered anyway.

When is the FW championship? What sort of timescale do you have?

Late August I believe but the signups have not been posted yet. As far as timescale goes, if I get it rolling next week, I am on course to have something rolling by EXR Portsmouth as a test day out (I'll only be going for a day). It probably won't have a weapon by then (the spear I might have ready) but the major construction work will have been completed by then.

Neophyte was a huge bot for a feather. I would guess 750mm wide 400-500mm long and 250mm high with the lifter down.

Wider than that surely? The Honey Badger 2.2 was 490mm wide and the video I have from the first melee (when Neophyte was upside down) completely covers the Badger at one stage. However, the Badger is taller than Neophyte I think with the lifter down - The main body of the Badger is 230mm high.

[James Williams]

For those who are curious Neophyte's chassis (excluding the lifter arm) is 650x450x150mm. Once you factor in the lifter & wheels it becomes 770x650x200mm. Will probably look at cutting it down a little before the next event. Either way if nothing else I'm glad it has become the benchmark for the size of featherweights.

Also assuming the featherweight championships are being held at the Insomnia festival again then they will be at the NEC in Birmingham on 24th-27th August.

[Maxamuslead]

Damn i was not too far off, did you say your where going to Grantham? it is no spinner

[James Williams]

Should be at Grantham as long as all goes as planned. Hopefully should get some proper driving practice in.

[Ocracoke]

After the ordering mishap, the new, longer panels arrived and for your viewing pleasure...

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Tada! A misaligned box though it is out only by 1mm on one panel so I'll take what I can get. Weird to think that that box is pretty much the main body of The Honey Badger 3 when compared to the vastness of the predecessor but it is a less is more approach here. Obviously, the screw pilot holes will need to be deepened + countersunk with at least 8 more needing to be added for strength.

The body still needs motor end caps on each end, the rails for the second deck to sit on and the fancy pants motors putting in but I put in the old motors and ESCs as a test to see what it looks like.

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You can't really see where the ESCs are but it is tight, they are right in front of the motors. The wooden jig underneath I placed a little deliberately to get a mock view of how long the rails need to be. The angle of the photo betrays this but the rails are out further at the back than they are at the front. When the new motors arrive, the wheels will need to be changed as the motors are taller than these by about 20 mm (which is also why the end caps haven't been done yet) but in theory, I could tape+wire this together now and see how it looks when moving.

Oh, and as an aside, the LEDs I ordered for Manchester turned up today! Yay, only 2 weeks late!

[Ocracoke]

More good news, the brushless motors turned up today. It is a bit smaller in length than a 775 motor but significantly wider.

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They definitely feel like they mean business, certainly weight 500g a piece but I now need to consider how to get the power to the wheels. I think a toothed belt drive might work here as a "simple" solution but I've never made a powered shaft like this, nor have I ever secured a shaft to a plate.

Am I right in thinking the "quick and dirty" solution is to get a shaft, two HDPE plates, drill a hole in both of them, run the shaft through those holes and then use a collar on either side to hold it in place, ending up with 4x collars? I guess for the pulleys, I'd need to flat off a little section of the shaft and then use a grub screw (or drill the shaft completely and bolt the pulley in place) to hold it in place? I guess the speed means a bearing in the 10mm thick plates might be needed here?

Alternatively, I suppose 2x pillow block bearings and drifting the shaft through them might be the more robust solution?

[Deathly Hallows]

Just catching up on your build and adventures in Manchester. Took ages so much happened and so many comments.
It was a shame how hard you got hit, when you are the most prolific contributer to these pages.
Looking forward to seeing V3.

[Maxamuslead]

any reason why you can't use the gearboxes from v2 ? or are you trying to leave them intact ?

[Ocracoke]

Just catching up on your build and adventures in Manchester. Took ages so much happened and so many comments.
It was a shame how hard you got hit, when you are the most prolific contributer to these pages.
Looking forward to seeing V3.

Thanks, these things happen and it isn't like I've not rebuilt The Honey Badger 2 in a rush before :P

any reason why you can't use the gearboxes from v2 ? or are you trying to leave them intact ?

The shaft on a 775 motor is 5mm, these bad boys are 8mm. I guess I could try and find a 9 tooth gear that goes on a 8mm shaft (not sure there is TBH) and then fashion up an adapter plate if the motor mounting holes don't fit, which is likely.

[Maxamuslead]

according to hobbyking it says it 8mm. You could try and find someone who is willing to turn it down to 5mm but I would make a custom gearbox similar to what you find in a speed 900 gear system (hardwired II)

Photo from hardwired II (Matt Smith)
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