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Thread: Team Kaizen Build Diary

  1. #1
    Ocracoke's Avatar
    Team Kaizen

    Hey Everyone,

    New year, new starts and all that. 2018 was a busy old year for me for a whole host of reasons. Finally went into not one but two FRA championships and learned a heck of a lot in terms of mechanical and electrical elements (I can solder properly now! :P) in competing over 4 weight classes. For 2019, going to combine all the build diaries into one thread as so to not clog up the forum any more than needed.

    Links to previous build diaries:




    With that in mind, let's move on. I've been umming and ahhing about changing the line up but since Shu! got obliterated at the 2018 BW Euros, I've needed the time off from intense robot building to reconsider the way forwards for Team Kaizen but first, a run down of the current robots:

    ----
    Antweights
    I've not explicitly written any build logs for the Antweights here. I've currently got three, those being Osu, which was made as a technical exercise originally to see if I could build one at all. Turns out I could so ended up making it a proper Ant. Made from a recycled Skittles tub.

    Ikari is my bar spinner which is currently undergoing a rebuild. 1400kv brushless outrunner motor driving the bar, 30:1 N20 motors driving it. My intention is to rebuild it out of 1mm polycarbonate this time around rather than a 3mm PVC base plate and 0.25mm HDPE. Ironically, despite the bar blade flying off, this has been the most successful AW I've built. It's won a heat match and a side event at the BotFest pilot.

    Ramu is a Shakey build 2WD rambot that was formerly under Greg's ownership (http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...eight-for-sale). I've been wanting to get this back into the competition circuit but I need a DSM2 transmitter for the older NanoTwo receiver in there.

    There is a fourth one I am working on for the upcoming Ant Freeze event if I can get it done in time, Amai (Japanese for sweet) which uses 50:1 motors and I've yet to decide on the weapon for that one. Will be using a Cadbury's Heroes sweet tub as the armour (see a theme? :P)

    Shu!
    Shu! has been dismantled and after examination, needs a whole host of new parts for the drive motors to repair from the damage it took during it's two outings in 2018. I've already got a few panels of 6mm polycarbonate to build a new body with (definitely not PVC again!) but it won't be going to the UWE event in February unless I can find the time to sit down and get the bodywork built.

    The Honey Badger
    If you were at EXR Manchester 2018, I don't think I need to say very much apart from BIG HITS forced the retirement of the 2.x version. For those that were at RL Grantham 2018 or at EXR Guildford 2018, you might have spotted the lesser well known 3.0 variant of The Honey Badger which was a nice idea implemented terribly as it kept on chewing up its motor bolts and just didn't work.

    I know why I built it that way but I ended up hating it and eventually put the 3.0 version out to pasture along with myself from the FW scene for the rest of the year. Since then, I mooted making The Honey Badger a Beetlweight but I've decided to keep it in the FW class and make 4.0 similar in design to the 2.x version. In theory, barring a receiver, I have all the bits to make it out of 10mm Polycarbonate, Nylon 6 HS and HDPE, including motors to come from...

    Kaizen
    Kaizen, for those that don't know, came 6th in the FRA Middleweight championships I think. However, if you were at EXR Chatham 2018 or EXR Cheltenham 2018, you might have noticed that above it all, the axe sucked and at the end of the Saturday at Cheltenham, it wasn't moving properly. Turns out it blown up 2 of its drive motors. I did moot changing them to brushless drive but in the end, I've decided to stick with brushed drive for the time being and change the motors to CIM motors.

    However, this warrants a full rebuild, the parts for which are slowly coming together. It'll end up being slightly shorter than it is now but more solidly built.
    ----

    So, 2019 will have a few changes. Since Osu, I've been sticking with Japanese names for the robots, largely because of the team name but for a little while, I've been looking at different names as it can be tricky to find a Japanese description that works as a robot name in English and I've been wanting to try something else.

    In line with this, I've been building a new Beetleweight for the UWE event which is going to be called Azriel, which has been build largely with offcuts of material from the BotFest arena and the original build of the Middleweight. I've not finished it but will probably furnish this one with a spinning bar blade.

    DSCF6709.JPG

    Finally, Kaizen is no longer going to be called Kaizen. In keeping with the angelic theme for my "serious" robots, Kaizen is now going to be Jibril. That robot will be receiving a raft of upgrades, including a new axe (the one on there now is from The Honey Badger 2.x!) and axe motor, re-securing the side armour so it doesn't bend anymore and replacement wheels so hopefully it won't burn itself out turning anymore. As noted, it'll eventually be replaced by a new build but I hope to have Jibril ready for RL Burgess Hill.

    So just to summarise, the current roster looks like this:

    AW: Amai, Ikari, Osu, Ramu,
    BW: Azriel, Shu!
    FW: The Honey Badger
    MW: Jibril
    Last edited by Ocracoke; 8th January 2019 at 15:47.
    Team Kaizen - Build Diary for all the robots

    AW: Amai, Ikari, Lafiel, Osu, Ramu
    BW: Shu!, The Honey Badger
    FW: Azriel
    MW: Jibril, Kaizen

  2. #2
    Ocracoke's Avatar
    Team Kaizen

    Couple of updates.

    Ikari
    Spent the last day or so getting the bodywork done on Ikari 2.0 out of 1mm polycarbonate and now it actually looks rather nifty. Unfortunately, it was sitting at 110g and with the spinner motor, that would mean 15g left over for a bar which feels a bit weedy. Then the motor broke so I've decided to change it for a clamper/crusher type weapon (hopefully allowing self-righting as well but it could go out into a arena tomorrow and at least work.

    DSCF6712.JPG

    Azriel
    This one can't though. The wheel hubs decided to wear out on me during a mobility test and then I weighed it. It was sitting at 1800g which given there is actually very little in the robot itself (just a couple of ESC, battery and some motors), is nuts. I've tried drilling weight saving holes everywhere but ultimately, I think it is just too big and lardy for what it is so I am going to junk this body and start again (how is this 1650g?!) I'll need to order some more polycarbonate for this and although I do have a base plate, can't really start on it until the new wheels arrive so I know how much to remove from the base plate to bring the wheels in.

    I still think I can still have it ready for UWE but, as always, rather depends on time and so forth. We'll see, I am still hopeful.

    DSCF6710.JPG
    Team Kaizen - Build Diary for all the robots

    AW: Amai, Ikari, Lafiel, Osu, Ramu
    BW: Shu!, The Honey Badger
    FW: Azriel
    MW: Jibril, Kaizen

  3. #3
    Ocracoke's Avatar
    Team Kaizen

    Ikari
    So the robot was moving and a nano servo arrived today for the clamper/crusher weapon. I got that in, a nice little hook made up and it actually looks "the business".

    DSCF6713.JPG

    However... the servo doesn't move. Tried the plug in both directions just to make sure that I wasn't being an idiot and nothing. Plugged into a separate receiver from Azriel and nope, nothing. I tried a different servo I had just to make sure I wasn't being idiotic and then the NanoTwo starts getting warm and the whole robot goes out of control. I think the ESC has overloaded because, once again, I failed to cut the positive wire and, of course, no NanoTwos are around atm. I can get replacement ESCs, even a different receiver but it means yet more soldering and wiring. A shame, this was 115g and I was quite happy with that.

    Azriel
    Following on from the weight issue, I've dismantled the body but left it on the base plate and robbed the wheel hubs from Shu! so at least I can prove it's mobility in a week or so. I'll be making the bodywork for the rest of the week when I get some 6mm polycarbonate cut up for this.

    Jibril
    I gave this some thought last night whilst at a game session. The independent 4WD thing, as useful as it is, isn't working because as soon as one corner is freewheeling, the pressure on the other motor on that side (bearing in mind these motors are used in the FW class) just becomes too much so 2WD next time. Though I have 4x CIM motors, so I am going to do a 2 motors to 1 wheel configuration.

    Box section steel has been ordered so I am hoping it arrives by the end of the week. I'll need to get another set of drive gears for this as well along with 125mm wheels but it could very well be moving by the start of February as I have about 70-80% of all the parts for it laying around.
    Team Kaizen - Build Diary for all the robots

    AW: Amai, Ikari, Lafiel, Osu, Ramu
    BW: Shu!, The Honey Badger
    FW: Azriel
    MW: Jibril, Kaizen

  4. #4
    Ocracoke's Avatar
    Team Kaizen

    Amai
    All the bits for Amai are now here and construction is underway. In keeping with the sweets thing, this one is being made out of a Heroes sweets tub like Osu was. Using a pair of 75:1 N20 motors for this one and if I can't get Ikari working properly soon, I'll move the servo over to that to see if I can get it working on that one.

    Building this one for my partner for the Ant Freeze event and then the BotFest event later on, hopefully it'll work. :P Just needs a shell and it is ready to go really.

    Jibril
    The box section steel arrived fairly quickly so I've made a start on the drilling to mount it to the base plate, one side is already done. I am looking to get it seam welded around the edges to give it more strength but it's generally following the same pattern as the original build. I will be ordering the rest of the drive gears tonight so with any luck, by the end of January, it'll be moving at least and then I'll get to work on the axe.

    DSCF6714.JPG
    Team Kaizen - Build Diary for all the robots

    AW: Amai, Ikari, Lafiel, Osu, Ramu
    BW: Shu!, The Honey Badger
    FW: Azriel
    MW: Jibril, Kaizen

  5. #5
    Ocracoke's Avatar
    Team Kaizen

    Amai, Ikari and Osu
    So for Ant Freeze this weekend, I've gotten ahead and got the three I wanted to get done ready though it was a bit touch and go.

    Amai is all done and is a basic wedge but partially made out of a Heroes sweets tub since we had that around. I "think" it fits in the 4 inch cube rule but it can be adjusted if needed. My partner is going to be driving this one, marking her first entry into driving a robot at all so hopefully I've built something that she'll like.

    Osu, as ever, continues to be the oddball. It's got a new receiver but otherwise is practically the same from Ant Freeze 5 barring a few weight saving measures.

    Ikari was the troublesome one. The polycarbonate shell is quite nice but it was meant to be a spinner. Unfortunately, the spinner motor broke and then I screwed up and blew up the NanoTwo. It therefore received a full rewire with a couple of new speed controllers, a OrangeRX receiver and a replacement nano servo for the clamper mechanism. It now is moving and works OK and even the clampy thing does... something :P

    ants_2019.jpg

    Azriel
    Azriel has been on the backburner with the Antweight robots and Jibril underway but now the Ants are done, I can focus on getting this one ready for the UWE event. I still suspect I may struggle but it is technically mobile, honest. Tomorrow is getting the armour measured up, the wiring tided up and cutting some 4mm polycarbonate.

    Jibril
    This one has been a bane of contention. After the nice mockup from the previous post, the steel beams have been drilled and can now be attached to the base plate with some huge M10 coach bolts. I even remembered to put some side holes in the sides to attach the HDPE directly to rather than via a weedy bracket or two. Top lids have also been fitted.

    I've got the wheel holes in the base plate and the outer bearings attached to the base plate (that is, the ones closest to the outer edges of the robot). Currently getting the 10mm shaft cut to length and then I need a motor mounting plate made up to attach the motors to (need some 10-32 bolts as well as a reminder for myself). All the gears for the drive are here along with the axe output gear but the axe pinion gear has been a bit of a nightmare. First, the supplier couldn't supply me with a 19T gear so I went for a 20T gear, which reduces the reduction to 4.5:1 and then when it did arrive, the 12mm bore didn't fit over the 12.7mm shaft of the motor. Doh, new one ordered.

    Jibril is still a way off from moving but once the drive motors are mounted, it should be plain sailing as the electronics and wiring all come out of Kaizen which only need a minor bit of fettling to make work in Jibril. The axe shaft and head are still to be worked on but I have hopes it will make RL Burgess Hill. Failing that, EXR Portsmouth.

    The assortment of parts and such weighs just over 30kg unbolted, so 35kg is my estimated weight just to get it rolling so plenty of weight for that axe.

    Other things
    I finally did a brushless conversion on a Gimson gearbox! In the end, I used a Turnigy XK3674 1650kv inrunner motor with a modified set of SimonK firmware on a RedBrick 100A ESC and seems to work quite smoothly (though I need to try it on a 6S battery set, works OK on a 4S battery). I have at least two more gearboxes so I could make an experimental FW out of them.
    Team Kaizen - Build Diary for all the robots

    AW: Amai, Ikari, Lafiel, Osu, Ramu
    BW: Shu!, The Honey Badger
    FW: Azriel
    MW: Jibril, Kaizen

  6. #6
    McMullet
    Guest
    I love the chocolate-themed ants. Is Ikari going to get a confectionery container too at some point? I have nothing constructive to add about how to build the robots well but I can always muster an opinion about chocolate.

    Good luck this weekend!
    Last edited by McMullet; 2nd February 2019 at 17:06.

  7. #7
    Ocracoke's Avatar
    Team Kaizen

    I love the chocolate-themed ants. Is Ikari going to get a confectionery container too at some point? I have nothing constructive to add about how to build the robots well but I can always muster an opinion about chocolate.
    Ikari is going to have to be rebuilt. Met a nasty horizontal spinner which destroyed a side panel and a speed controller. So more sweets for me then :P Will have to see what takes my fancy when I go to the shops.

    Let's get the build updates out of the way first before recapping Ant Freeze

    Jibril
    The drive shaft was cut in half and bearings added to each end and now the robot is a rolling shell! Woooo!!

    20190202_211221.jpg

    Next thing to do is secure the inner bearings down and then get some HDPE to mount the CIM motors to. This is going to be the difficult bit because of the size constraints in there but if my measuring is right, that shouldn't be an issue.

    Amai, Osu and Ikari - Ant Freeze 6
    Ant Freeze (apart from my own event) is the only Ant event I've ever attended. Quite a nice event as well, gives folks a chance to try out their new creations and generally just get involved in the sport.

    All three robots passed the technical checks though with the exception of Osu, they are grossly underweight. Ikari was 122g, Amai was 111g, Osu was 141g. Good ol' LiFe battery to the rescue there :P

    Before the event started properly, there was a Nuts side event, which is basically where you get a corner of the arena, a load of nuts in the middle and the objective is to collect as many nuts into your corner as possible. I figured that since Amai was the newest of my creations and hadn't had much chance to drive the thing, I thought it best to plop it in there and see the result.

    The result... my driving is horrible. To be fair, the speed controllers weren't helping much as one wheel was spinning easier than the other for some reason (but not in reverse weirdly) but at the end of the day, when you score 1 point in a event where the typical score is much more than that (even Osu managed 13 last time, even with mismatched motors!), you have to question yourself. Nevermind...

    The fights then started proper and went like this:

    Osu vs Ant Ratchet - Started OK but then Ant Ratchet got under me and flipped me on to my back. Now Osu has a removable link which helps with balancing when on its back but if it lands wrong, like it did here, there is no comeback. Quickly ended up in the pit.

    Ikari vs Oof - As alluded to, Ikari was totalled. A side panel got ripped off and a ESC went awry for some reason. A nasty horizontal bar spinner in Oof.

    Amai vs Doktor Power 9 Ti
    - This ended so quickly with a pitting that it was a blink and you missed it fight as I seem to recall.

    Osu vs Nemesis mk2 - This started OK, the flat front of Osu was matching Nemesis for a few moments but then a edge got caught and pulled a chunk out of the front armour. This also dislodged the removable link (which I had been having trouble with all day) and Osu died. Ended up in the pit.

    Ikari vs Lasagne for One - I had to forfeit this one as I couldn't get Ikari working fully. A shame since the clamping mechanism would have been ideal for this opponent.

    Amai vs High Density Wedge Bot - I was feeling pretty blue at this point and was sure I wasn't going to win. However, HWDB charged straight at me, riding up the front wedge and getting stuck, allowing me to dump this one in the pit. This represents the only win to date I have ever had in the AW class.

    Amai vs Stoink!!! And Friends - This one was a bit odd as this is a clusterbot with a drone. Luckily(?) the drone crashed so it was me vs the main robot of that cluster. We had a tussle back and forth but eventually, they out-drove me and I ended up in the pit.

    So yeah, not exactly a shining day in terms of performance but hey, least I've got relatively unique looking robots in the shape of sweet tubs. I need more now... :P They are due to enter BotFest at the end of March (I can't drive them since I am the person running that event) so time to get fixing them :P
    Last edited by Ocracoke; 3rd February 2019 at 23:26.
    Team Kaizen - Build Diary for all the robots

    AW: Amai, Ikari, Lafiel, Osu, Ramu
    BW: Shu!, The Honey Badger
    FW: Azriel
    MW: Jibril, Kaizen

  8. #8
    McMullet
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Ocracoke View Post
    Ikari is going to have to be rebuilt. Met a nasty horizontal spinner which destroyed a side panel and a speed controller. So more sweets for me then :P Will have to see what takes my fancy when I go to the shops.
    Oh dear. Well, every cloud eh...

    Jibril is looking very businesslike. I guess it's just going to be the motor directly driving that big gear? Seems like a more straightforward (and possibly cheaper?) way of doing it than a gearbox along the axis of the motor shaft. Plus I guess it makes the whole thing a bit more modular when it comes to the inevitable repairs...

  9. #9
    Ocracoke's Avatar
    Team Kaizen

    Oh dear. Well, every cloud eh...
    Quite so. I figured it'd eventually happen so not too gutted.

    Jibril is looking very businesslike. I guess it's just going to be the motor directly driving that big gear? Seems like a more straightforward (and possibly cheaper?) way of doing it than a gearbox along the axis of the motor shaft. Plus I guess it makes the whole thing a bit more modular when it comes to the inevitable repairs...
    The axe on Jibril is being powered by a 2.3HP Ampflow F30-150 motor running through a single stage 4.5:1 reduction gearbox so yes, in effect, the motor will drive the big gear directly. You'll know when this hits you, put it that way.

    The gearbox you describe is a planetary gearbox and whilst that might offer a more compact unit, I very much doubt it'll be able to take the strain. I've shattered gearboxes before in that sort of manner. :S Repairing it is going to be doddle if it comes to it.
    Team Kaizen - Build Diary for all the robots

    AW: Amai, Ikari, Lafiel, Osu, Ramu
    BW: Shu!, The Honey Badger
    FW: Azriel
    MW: Jibril, Kaizen

  10. #10
    You did seem a bit down. Apologies for not being more social, but my son and the whole competition thing overloads my brain, somewhat. I'll get used to it, someday. If I can just get my son addicted to a tablet, like other kids do.

    I didn't realise Osu was the Skittle container bot until then. It's such a cool bot! It was one of my faves when watching the older Antfreeze videos. It seemed like it had some personality. Do they even make those skittles containers anymore?

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