Haha, yeh spose that'll do.......
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Haha, yeh spose that'll do.......
Forgot to add, something that wasn't seen on tv but is important to getting the replica correct :proud:
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...5-11190121.jpg
The all important Please Turn Over on the baseplate :lol:
Duly noted :)
And that baseplate looks pretty knackered!
In ant news, it looks like I'll have to revert back to the servo board speed controller method. I order two 2A controllers for EricA but when I got my hands on them today, it turns out I've been sent the 8A versions, which are quite a bit larger (6cm long, pretty big for an ant when you need to use two). There's not enough time to send them back and get the correct ones so I'll just have to butcher some more servos and try not to screw them up.
On the plus side, I now have two 8A speed controllers for my beetleweight that weigh just 10g each and were about £3 cheaper than normal :)
It does a bit doesn't it. That was when I first got hold of him, the hose reel, screen wash, plant pots and Scar's disc are holding all the panels on just so I could get a picture of the rough idea of the finished product. The baseplate is something like 1mm Aluminium so straightened it out pretty easily. The killerhurtz hold on the bottom of it is still there though :lol:
Just rebuilt Eric slightly more properly today and cleaned the panels up for any photoshoots he might be required for :D
Good to hear a true Scotsmans boast there, getting excited over saving 3 quid :lol:
Jamie I think those are the 2 amp version, I ordered a pair that came today and they are huge...
I'm beginning to think that Josh. The bag I got them in says they're the 8A model, but going by the picture on eBay, they certainly look like the 2A versions.
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqYOKjg...Uedw~~0_12.JPG
Mine have the white heatshrink and the relay is the same height as the terminal screw blocks, whereas the 8A ones appear to have a relay that is bigger than the screw blocks.
Their dimension picture on the eBay page shows the 2A models to be 4cm long. Having remeasured mine, they are 5cm long, so I think the circuit board must've been changed and is now larger than they illustrate.
I'll try fitting them in anyway and see how I get on but I'm not holding out much hope. Must order a set of 8A ones now then and see what I get.
Tony, £3 is a massive saving. That's about 9 cans of Irn-Bru if I go for the multi-pack out of Asda :lol:
Where did you get them from?
That eBay seller you mentioned a while back? I thought he only sold relays, not ESC's?
Yeah it was that eBay seller, 'mrrcworld'
They only have the 2A and 8A ESCs pictured above, everything else is relays or sound effect things for boats.
argh! Can't find him for the life of me, stupid eBay!
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/mrrcworld/m.html ... 4340.l2562
:)
EDIT: Just found a metal-geared servo on there that actually rotates a full 180° and weighs 13.3g. Next ant lifter servo methinks.
don't spend it all on irn bru, you won't have any left for a deep fried mars bar! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by k_c_r
Of all the years I could have opted to have that in Scotland, it wasn't until I was halfway across the world, in Peru, before I actually tried it! Although over there, a Mars Bar is called a Milky Way. Confusing or what?! :uhoh:
In other news, I managed to progress to some ant lifter tests tonight. It's moderately speedy and when Kiss My Asimov was wedged halfway up the flipper arm, I was able to give it a good 180° flip. Admittedly KMA only weighs 60g but I'm happy enough that the lifter will flip other robots over. It won't self-right the robot but I'm not particularly fussed about that in this version; I can't be bothered faffing around with miniature self-righting arms with such little time and experience in antweights. I'll just make sure I don't get flipped :)
Slightly more concerning is the continued lack of one drive motor. I've had no word from Technobots yet to say that new stock has come in and a motor has been dispatched, so if I haven't heard anything by close of business tomorrow, I'll need to think up a plan B. Might just order some servos from GiantCod tonight as back-up, as they tend to dispatch and arrive quickly.
You can borrow Spall on the day if you like Jamie, as a last resort; it's a maneuvrable and resilient robot with combat experience that has beaten well regarded opponent in the AWS. :)
Thanks Joey. I've just ordered four of the highly-regarded (by Harry at least :P) TowerPro SG90 servos from GiantCod with next day delivery, so I should have them on Friday as a back-up in case my gearmotor doesn't show. But if that back-up fails, I'll take you up on your offer of driving (Timothy?) Spall :)
Spall is a 27g radio controlled car with a bodyshell, I should probably warn you of that too, sorry ;P I do have a couple of spare motors that can be swapped in on the day though.
Thank god, you didn't eat the Mars bar - it's got almonds in it!Quote:
Originally Posted by k_c_r
Yeah, the founder's son took the UK expansion operations after an argument. Mars had the almonds removed for allergies/availability. Milky way was based off 1 of 3 flavour choc pack. Twix, opal fruits (star burst), Marathon (Snickers), Topic & skittles all started in the UK.
*sigh* I know lots of irrelevant stuff like this - why can't I get a job?
Well it's been a bit quiet on this front for a while. Took a break from building after the AWS event in July as I was lacking the motivation to build stuff, so I turned my attentions to getting a workshop set up in the back garden. A fair few weekends (and numerous trips to B&Q) later and it's at the photogenic stage:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...p/DSCN6268.jpg
It's lit by 6m worth of ultra-bright LED strip lights from Giant-Cod (300 LEDs in total) powered by a 12V battery. For roughly £40, it's really bright and gives a much more even spread of lighting than a conventional neon strip light or a couple of bulbs would.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...p/DSCN6271.jpg
My mild OCD got the better of me when mounting stuff on the walls.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...p/DSCN6274.jpg
This back wall/bench is just a dumping ground for bits and bobs just now but I will shortly be looking into getting a pillar drill, bench grinder and vice installed (any recommendations for makes/models welcomed) and will chuck my old computer in there too for some CAD-ing/music.
I've yet to actually do any bot building in it, but it's such a nice feeling getting it all out of my bedroom!
I have, however, been accumulating parts over the past couple of weeks for the bots (mainly Drumroll and Paws) so there will be regular updates on their way soon. Going to give the whole fleet an overhaul this winter so that will keep me busy!
Image links aren't working for me?
EDIT: The refresh after posting this brought them up.............
No photos of the solar panel or windmill that you've inevitably used to power this new creation? :lol:
looking very nice jamie, reminds me of my shed before anything and everything got put inside it lol
i made box section tables inside mine too, i think its better than buying anything cause you can make everything to the size you want :)
i got a pillar drill for £40 from aldi like 2 years go and it does me fine.
best advice i can give you is don't let your parents put anything inside your shed, because once they have 1 thing in that'll be it lol had 4 bags of compost inside mine before :P
haha owned by parents :)
On a serious note tho, good jub. Looks like a great place to be building stuff in.
Just spotted something else, is that a BW-ish sized flipper I spy next to Paws?
That old thing? It's the old Beetleweight Cassius that Jamie was planning to build. Or did he decide on Mute. Either way, old news. Good to see it again though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anttazz
Have you got one of Kaizer's old lids in there? Is that Boner's shell? Is this constant questioning annoying :proud: ?
Yeah it was the Cassius replica from way back around June 2010. I did contemplate changing it to Mute but considering that I'm not planning on progressing with that one yet, I don't really need to worry about it.
Got two of Kaizer's old lids in there :)
Got the first one, which was just a sheet of old computer desk steel that was screwed onto some polycarb, then the Mk2 armour/shell. Not fussed about the first one but I'll be mounting the second one on one of the walls for posterity's sake. Same goes for the old Drumroll/Boner shell (it was surplus when Gary built the new Boner so he let me have it back)
Tony, I haven't yet invested in a solar panel for the roof but it's on my to-do list. Windmills are out of the equation though as, being an end-terraced house, they'd probably be subjected to hostile attacks from any local stone-wielding neds :evil:
Calum, there's a second shed next to mine that's for all the general house/garden stuff but it's the other way round for me - I've already started dumping my spare stuff in there instead!
I'm off work next week and will be going to Stornoway on Tuesday to meet up with some uni friends. They're both pretty geeky so I've decided to make a couple of robots to take with me for some fun, and since beetleweights will probably fit in a suitcase nicely, I've set myself the challenge of getting two working beetleweights made over the weekend :crazy:
Neither will probably be based on any existing designs as it'll be easier just to build around what parts I've got. But weapons-wise I've got a big-ass servo and a big-ass brushless motor/controller so a lifter and spinner could well be the two resulting robots. Including Monday, that gives me three days build time. Will be a good test of my new workshop!
Tune in next week to see if I succeed or (most likely) fail epically :rofl:
Update
Today was a bit of a motivation fail, seeing as I didn't wake till midday and didn't get showered/dressed until half two. Then when I took my batteries out to the shed to plug back into the lighting, I accidentally shorted the wires and the lights went out. Thought I'd blown all the LEDs but traced it to a dodgy connection and eventually managed to get the lights back on.
Anyway, as a result not much actual physical building took place today but I've settled on the designs and did a quick couple of parts mock-ups. First up is just a basic lifter/flipper design:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...m/DSCN6284.jpg
Drive is a couple of 1000rpm gearmotors from 'VirtualVillage' on eBay onto 48mm Banebots wheels. The weapon is a servo-powered lifter/flipper (servo has 20kg/cm of torque) connected directly to the servo horn, and I'll make a pivot point on the other side of the servo to support the arm. Power is from a 6V, 1800mAh Ni-cad pack powering both motors and receiver. And drive control is from a couple of boat winch ESCs from eBay. Apparently they don't actually offer much speed control beyond fully-on and fully-off but since I'm trying to use stuff I already have, they will do. Nice and compact too. No idea what to call it yet.
The second robot is what I consider to be a very generic US robot design, but one which remains very destructive with the right components and implementation; the horizontal bar spinner:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...m/DSCN6283.jpg
Tentatively calling this one Spin Cycle. The blade is 3mm steel but won't be that long, I'll cut it down when I know how much space I have to work with. I'll just be leaving it as a single bar for now but if there's spare weight, I'll add some 5mm steel cuts top and bottom (13mm thick in total) at the ends of the bar to increase inertia and possible damage. Same drive motors as above but with bigger 60mm wheels (from Paws). The controller is a Scorpion XL, brushless motor is an 1100kV E-Power something-or-other from GiantCod (seems the business and gets great reviews) geared down roughly 2:1, and brushless ESC is a 40A Black Mantis model. All powered by an 11.1V lipo pack.
I'm actually expecting the spinner mechanism to be one of the easier parts of both builds as mounting the brushless, fitting bearings and bolting in a shaft should all be pretty straight-forward (famous last words!).
Hope to have most of the construction done tomorrow as I'll be getting up much earlier ( :) ) so will try for some vids/spin-ups on Monday.
They're both looking great! That brushless looks pretty meaty, should make for a seriously nice weapon. Are these more or less beetleweights?
More, less and entirely.Quote:
Originally Posted by k_c_r
I knew that! I was... you know... just... s-seeing if... you, uh, if you d-did! :proud:
Haha, nice cover-up :)
As it's just going to be for some fun amongst friends I'm not too fussed if they're overweight come Monday, but if I can get them within the weight limit or they're overweight but don't need drastic action to bring them underweight, then it's all the better as it means I can keep them running and compete with them.
I'm also rethinking the whole make-a-RW-replica, as it's been so much easier to just throw these parts together into something resembling a robot, rather than being constrained by the shape or size of a scaled-down replica. To that end, I won't be pursuing the Cassius replica beetleweight anymore, although I still want to get Paws built as it's a bit more unique and interesting.
:lol: Excellent cover
Looks neat. How much does that brushless weigh?
Interested in making a beetle spinner aswell but unsure what motor to go for.
According to GiantCod, it weighs 86g:
http://www.giantcod.co.uk/epower-2810-1 ... -p-50.html
Another reason I like it is because it's one of the few beetleweight-size brushless motors that has a 5mm output shaft and doesn't cost a bomb. I have no idea how it will perform yet or how big it is in relation to any other brushless beetles out there but considering every review on that page gives it five stars means it can't be bad.
Yeah It was quite cheap.
I was also thinking in the line of 70-100gms roughly but I have no real idea on how good it would perform.
Was also planning on a bar spinner actually as I dont have acess to a lathe, but i have got some titanium sheets
and angle grinder etc.
Hope they're not gonna look too much alike when done.
Yup, should've known I'd jinx it.Quote:
Originally Posted by k_c_r
Got the spinner setup mounted today but I'm far from pleased with it. Aside from being chunky and unbalanced, I broke several (what I thought would be good quality) drill bits, wasted a timing pulley as a result, had my corded drill crap out on me, bashed my (now painful) thumb with a hammer and, in general, got quite irritated. Although I've got a dedicated work space now, I haven't added any new tools yet that will help with construction (pillar drill, vice etc) which is something I seem to be forgetting. Making a good quality spinner setup, even at beetleweight level, isn't easy with just hand tools.
But moaning aside, here's where it's at:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...m/DSCN6287.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...m/DSCN6286.jpg
The blue block is Nylon and I'm using it as a spacer, pulley mount and to minimise potential flex in the bar (which, in reality, probably won't be a lot) but aside from being a pain when trying to cut it, it gives the whole mechanism a horribly chunky look. Managed to spin up though, and the brushless motor seems decent enough. Didn't have the drives connected so couldn't steer it into stuff to test damage levels.
Also got little space to put the ESC, brushless ESC and receiver. The base I'm using was the most ideal piece of scrap I had to hand so it constrained the size of things a little. Overall it's not gone as well as I'd hoped, and I haven't even started on the flipper yet, so already I've lost motivation to get them finished for tomorrow evening. Can't be bothered rushing builds anymore, just creates more hassle than it's worth. I'd rather take my time over them and make them properly.
If you're not gonna manage to get it finished you can take either or both of my FW's with you if you're determined to bring some bots along with you, might be a bit on the big side for putting in a suitcase though :?
What does it weigh in at as of now?
Looks quite vicious so far :)
Haha, I reckon they'd fit in a suitcase, but doubt I'd have room for anything else. Not too fussed about not having something to take up with me though, as we've got plenty of other stuff planned for the time we're there (mainly drinking :P)
Danny, it weighs around the 1kg mark just now. That was including the Scorpion XL, brushless ESC and receiver. So ~300g for armour. It probably is quite vicious, but I didn't want to check while I was still standing next to it. Will try and get the drives running and do a weapon test :)
I'm impressed you got it it spinning so easily. Spinza runs a similar setup and it took ages to make the parts, assemble it and get it running. It's still not right now, but you seem to have something going in a matter of hours!
That may be, but it's as rough as a badger's arse!
There aren't any bearings in it (the one I was planning on using got damaged because I forced it into a bit of a too-tight press fit hole) so it's just a 10mm hole drilled through everything with an M10 bolt acting as a shaft. It's also not exactly concentric so the belt loosens and tightens with every revolution.
And worst of all, I've just realised...........I've joined the HFTW brigade :cry: