Team Invade's Build Diary

[Team Invade]

So that is the wooden mockup of our in-progress heavyweight robot
That ram is 100mm bore, 160mm stroke, and we shall be running it at high pressure

[PJ-27]

Inertia XL is looking good

[Team Invade]

I have tried to make it look as different as possible! To be honest if you compare them they don't look that similar. The chassis is a pretty different shape and the only things they really share in common are the disc, the width and the wheels at the back.

Anyway Heatwave's a lot more similar to Explosion then this is to Inertia so I'm probably still a bit more original

[teamshock]

Anyway Heatwave's a lot more similar to Explosion then this is to Inertia so I'm probably still a bit more original

Not any more :P

[Team Invade]

Well it used to be then

Anyway we've wired it up, and after a bit of difficultly with the Brushless ESC it drives and spins (minus belts). First spin up will be for the tech check All that's left to do is cut two holes for the links and put the all-important stripes on, which can be done quickly on the day.

[Team Invade]

Finally got round to giving Explosion some maintenance after the UK champs:




Overall it came out of the UK champs a lot better than it did last year. We've only had to replace the front (triangle) panels and the bits that the eyes sit in. The frame was pretty badly twisted though so we had to cut several pieces of it off and re-weld them to get it straight again. Having said that it still managed to carry on through Colchester and Burgess Hill without any attention and seemed to do as well as ever

[Ellis]

Looking good! Are you going to enter it in the main competition next year?

Also, what motor/gearbox reduction do those drives have? Looks like a 775, but only guessing. Am trying to gauge how much I should worry about being able to escape the weapon in terms of speed.

[Team Invade]

Obviously I'm driving Explosion in the main comp to defend the title this year so it'll probably just be for whiteboards again. Don't really fancy entering an untested robot into the main competition so if my dad happens to want to drive something (which is unlikely), he'll have Annihilation anyway. Just want to get it working reliably for now and possibly think about entering it when Explosion stops doing so well.

The motors are Dewalt 18V 775s, we've modified the gearbox, which used to have a three stage reduction, and taken out one stage that wasn't used for the higher speed setting to shorten it. Not too sure how it'll drive but it should be quite fast. The motors seem to be more powerful than the 775s in Explosion so going by that it should be quite good (if it works). I'm aiming to have it driving by January to give it a couple of test drives at the event in Alexandra Palace when Explosion's not ready to go in.

[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?