Team Invade's Build Diary

[Team Invade]

Got this done last weekend but only just found the time to write the post! Long story short the motors have been mounted and it's been wired up. The motors are mounted into pockets milled 12mm deep into the bulkheads, nuts have been melted into the plastic which the threaded bars that hold the motors together screw into. It's also mounted to the base through holes tapped into the aluminium so they're pretty strongly held in.

Wiring was a bit more difficult due to the fact it had to be made so compact! In the compartment on the left side the Scorpion XXL has been wrapped in 1mm HDPE to prevent any shorts. Under that is the brushless ESC and the receiver. Links and power lights are mounted next to the brushless on the right hand side. The weapon and drive systems are completely separate (only common component is the receiver), one lipo for each. This means each has a separate link and power light, which means I can run it without the spinner at normal events for testing and there is no power to the weapons system.

I've done a drive test and it drives really nicely, and it's fast! Hoping to get the top plates done tomorrow and might get the hardox done by the end of the weekend, but at the very least it'll be at London next weekend for a full test drive in the arena.

[daveimi]

That's sooo neat compact! Really impressive!

Are you from the Blackpool area?

[Team Invade]

Thanks very much! We live in Warrington about an hour from Blackpool.

[mrsam]

Looks vicious, will it be entered into the main competition at the champs? should b a serious contender if it is

[Team Invade]

We'll just be testing it this year, obviously with regards to the competition full concentration goes to Explosion but if all goes well we might look at entering it next year (mostly dependent on how well Explosion does!)

The brushless motor I've got in it isn't as powerful as the ones in some other spinners, the main aim is really to build something reliable. Should be reasonably powerful just not to the extent of 720/LS4 etc, which makes sense considering it will be for the whiteboards this year (shouldn't really be trying to cause major damage in whiteboards)! If I do enter it into the main competition though I've designed it so that a bigger brushless can be fitted

[Mouldy]

Looks great, but I'd still suggest turning the teeth of the disc pulley so uve got a bit of slip in the mechanism. Or just turn up some blank pulleys.

[Team Invade]

Will do. Still got quite a few things to do on the spinner mechanism before it's done: turning down the pulleys, a back bearing mount for the brushless and putting caps on the nylon bulkheads to stop the bar/bearings sliding out like they began to do last year. At the minute I'm just focusing on getting it running for next weekend, so I'll turn my attention to the weapons system after that.

[Eventorizon]

Looking good! How much weight do you have left for armour and what's going to be used?

[Team Invade]

Last time I checked it was 10.3kg with top plates (not mounted at that point), which leaves just over 3kg for armour considering I need to leave a bit of weight for the few bits mentioned above. Armour will be a front "Explosion style" wedge and wheel protection made from 3.2mm hardox.

[Team Invade]

Got the top panels and hardox armour done this weekend. The top panels are 10mm HDPE and the hardox armour is a mixture of 3mm and 3.2mm - just made out of any small bits we had lying around mostly. The front wedge shape is based off Explosion, which should deflect spinners better than the design from last year. It's not quite fully welded yet, still needs welding on the inside properly, but it'll do until after this weekend.

As it is it weighs 12.4kg, so there's plenty of weight spare for any improvements. Apart from finishing the hardox there are a few bits to do on the spinner mechanism so that'll take up a little bit of weight, but there should still be plenty spare.