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As the title would suggest I was wondering how people thought about rotating weapons as opposed to spinning weapons,
What would be allowed in a none spinner arena, For example Cherub My HW has a lifter that can rotate 360 degrees, but I think it would not at the speed it travels be regarded as a spinner.
So where do people think the boarder line between spinner and rotating weapon is?
'Ask the EO's what they will allow you to run and build to that' was going to be my method of working with concepts I have had.
I have asked Alan if he would let me run a chop saw in his arena. At 40 RPM on a 300mm Disc the tip speed is very low but the energy involved would be quite high. At the time the answer was 'Yes but check with me before you bring it to an event'. Things may have changed now.
It would also depend on the weapons intention, ie: is it a rotary flipper or some kind of grinding saw, its mass and how it was built.
The main point would be if the weapon is capable of creating and 'throwing' shrapnel at any reasonable speed.
I agree with that sentiment Alan, just doing some simple comparisons my suggestion for "tip speed of any rotating weapon is if the weapon was used as a wheel would the robot go faster than say 10mph some examples below
100mm dia 850rpm = 9.8mph
150mm dia 566rpm = 9.8mph
200mm dia 425rpm = 9.8mph
250mm dia 340rpm = 9.8mph
400mm dia 212rpm = 9.8mph
There is nothing in the rules that say the wheels cant be saw blades!!! :)
I don't think the mass at these slow speeds would be too much of a problem the recommended speeds of saw blades would be a lot faster than the speeds above.
I for one would use a friction system to hold the blades so if jammed the drive would slip. Any rotating weapon faster than say 60rpm would have a locking device, if it has cutting edges then it would have a locking device at any speed.
The idea of inertia flippers this discussion is centred round exposed rotating weapons. but I do like the idea of those types of flippers. my argument for this type would be if I can prove the robot can contain the inertia in itself there is no problem.
So if you measure the tip speed of the weapon rather than just the rpm I think the risk of bits Flying off can be managed. lets face it when Toxic2 flipped Cherub out, Cherub nearly pushed itself through the doors! there is no call for restriction on flipper power.
I might make the next feather a rotating saw weapon along these lines if there are no objections from the EO's or the FRA.