Thanks!!
It's a bit weird but you can hammer it, stand on it, heat it, drill it, throw it round the garage and its not even scratched. Roasting Tins rule. lol
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Thanks!!
It's a bit weird but you can hammer it, stand on it, heat it, drill it, throw it round the garage and its not even scratched. Roasting Tins rule. lol
In all seriousness I'm just looking to get to some events next year. I'm closest to finishing Smoothie, but the armour is really thin so was worried about it getting wrecked, not just dented and clouted. I'll finish cutting the angle for it and get it together and then after Christmas is out of the way look at some radio gear and a speedo. It's completely scratch built from plastic sheeting and angle ally so I'm quite proud of it. I'd like to have a season of attending bits of events whilst building something better over the summer to compete with seriously in 2014.
I have some more pictures so wanted to stick them up to show everyone the beginnings of the three robots mentioned above.
Below is the original Smoothie. This was the first shape that was sketched and it's gradually reaching completion. It has bulk heads and angle ally that holds it all together.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...2-04123133.jpg
This is The Roasting Dish of Doom. I've started cutting this to mount GR01's etc. Would come up with something for a lid, probably baking tray to keep with the theme lol.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...2-04122945.jpg
And finally the half finished prototype for a feather weight jaws of life. This has mostly been to see if the linkage lengths etc worked and gave the travel I wanted.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...2-04123333.jpg
And a test track to drive it on. :rofl:
leave the handles on for effect amd easy transport, love it great job :mrgreen:
That road mat is awesome! Takes me right back to my childhood :proud:
Haha! It's awesome! It's my 3 yr old's lol, I saw it n had to get it for him lol
Yeh yeh, we all believe you ;) 'Had' to get it for your 'son'......
Haha it's dead cool lol. In one of the shops they sell car mark off the roll as carpet so I'm trying to talk my other half into having it through the whole house!
We've officially decided to put this to the public vote. Of the three robots pictured earlier, which do people suggest we finish in time for the spring??
We decided today to put our efforts into Smoothie. It's feeling really light so are just looking into building Smoothie 1 and Smoothie 2 for a pair to act as a cluster.
Cut a load of angle ally last night and it's starting to come together.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...bot1/kkkkk.jpg
Looking forward to seeing a feather cluster bot in action
Yeah it should be really cool. It may be a complete disaster but each one will have a full weight feathers drive train so it should be a laugh anyway :)
Project B
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...pse296479d.jpg
(excuse the naff drawing)
Oh and in other news I'm just trying to sort out getting to Barnsley on 24th Feb. Looking forward to getting to a few events just to watch, with hopefully a working robot by the summer. Money is the main thing at the moment and wanting something half competitive.
Roasting Dish of Doom progress!! Really trying to get this finished as its awesome!
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps2260f909.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...pscfc90c47.jpg
I had three hours on the internet last night with a pad and pen, designing the electrics and how I was going to wire everything. I'm going to use a 12v pack from Component Shop for power, and at the minute am planning on using a Giant Cod radio although this might change if they turn out to be hard to bind etc. I build graphic design and gaming pc's for a living so live by the rule buy cheap buy twice. Because of this I'm only half sold on the Giant Cod £40 radio when other models are nearer £100.
I'm planning on getting hold of a Sabertooth 25A to run the GR01's. I have read that the 10A will work but some people report stuttering with some motors. The reason for this controller is that it is similar in price to two Electronizes and a V-Tail mixer in price but seems a lot simpler to install, its just one box with the BEC already built in.
After I've ordered all this I'm gonna wire it all in with a Link and LED in one side. I haven't looked at this yet but I'm planning on also putting a fuse before the Sabertooth in case motors lock solid for some reason. I've found a good charger on Ebay for £30 that will discharge as well as charge so am going to get one of those as well. Thats all I can think of for now, I won't be finished until late spring / early summer and building a basic push bot will have taken me twelve months. I suppose though that this time twelve months ago I had no idea about anything and only basic tools and it's gotten to where it is now.
My Dad is interested in coming along to the Barnsley event so I'm going to see if I can book that today or just need to turn up and pay on the door. Thanks for reading, Dave.
Dave, if you complete a membership application for the FRA (~£15) you can sign up the Barnsley event as a roboteer. That way you can attend on the 'other side of the fence' so to speak, get a chance to chat to the other roboteers and see the machines and their internals up close.
Tony Smith (Anttaz) and I will be attending with our Scot-Bots kits, but we'll also have our own personal robots there so you're more than welcome to drive one of the kits in the FW whiteboard battles.
Oh wow that's awesome. Would they get mad with me if I fill the form out as though I'm entering a robot and then just turn up with nothing?
Edit: and thanku very very much for letting me have a go with one of your trusted creations!!
I've signed up 5 robots between Jamie and I, so we can't drive them all in every battle :lol:
Should be fine, as long as you submit a membership application for the FRA. Actually, being the first event of the year, you should be able to join up/pay at the event itself.Quote:
Originally Posted by daveimi
Featherweights at these events don't feature as prominently as heavyweights. They get a couple of fights per show and those usually consist of large meles so if you were to sign a robot up but not actually bring it, it wouldn't disrupt things. You'd even be as well to bring along your unfinished robots if you were wanting to get any hints and tips. But at the very least, as Tony said, we'll have a spare robot for you to drive :)
Hi, sorry for not replying for a few days. My Dad has had heart problems over Christmas that he's half way through getting sorted out and he's been my biggest source of fabrication skills teachings lol. He's been an engine builder and race mechanic for years and so when I was showing him all this and my robot he got interested and got involved.
I'm asking other people if they wana climb in the car with me and running down to Barnsley, its only an hour or two from here in Costa Del Blackpool lol :lol:
Just as an update I ordered a Sabertooth this morning. I was planning on a low budget build, but after realising that using 2 seperate motor controllers that way I would need a mixer and a rats nest of wiring I couldn't be bothered. Then when I got to Technobots the 2x12A controllers were around £50 delivered which made the whole thing a no brainer. I know there are reports of them being less than rugged but it will be easy to set up for a first time builder like me and the whole robot so far has only cost about £40 to build.
Sabertooth arrived today, it's tiny! Anyway, am really excitied. I decided on an M8 bolt and thread convention to hold everything together, ie. bracketry, panels etc. I've also come up with the idea to use a lid to the roasting dish made out of several baking trays, and a getter-underrer prong made out of a sturdy spatula. I bought three just to be on the safe side. I've also been and bought another roasting dish...also just to be on the safe side.
So now with thread convention decided on and my weapon that I've dubbed The Spatulator I can't fail. So at the minute my parts hunting looks like this:
Roasting Dish
Gimson GR01's x 2
RoboChallenge 100mm wheels
Sabertooth 2x12A
Spatulator
M8 Bolts, Washers and Nuts throughout
On the list for accumulation is:
12v Battery pack from somewhere or other (found an awesome place that sells them but can't remember where)
Charger (saved in ebay watch list - awaiting paypal funds)
Good Radio set (giant kod? better make than that? I dunno)
Another thing I need to study form on is the bolts that hold the Gimson's to the roasting dish. They're pretty small and I want to get some washers for them but have no idea what size they are. Anyone have a clue? In other news I'm also in the process of nabbing some wire from somewhere to cable it all up. I'm gonna need a chock block I think to cable into and out of. I also need to sketch up something for a removable link to add an LED too as well. It's all go!
Dangerous Dave
More progress this week with some pictures. Below can be seen the robot now incorporating the Sabertooth and new weapon the Spatulator. The basic gist is that the Rx and ESC will sit in the back corner shock mounted and with an extra layer of protection around them as they've been the expensive bit. Then in the opposite corner at the front will sit the battery pack that's on it's way in a home made holder. There may also be a chock block somewhere as a distribution for cabling etc depending on how tidy I manage to make it. Also to note is that one side wall will be receiving an LED and Link soon. Two pieces of angle ally are also being cut and bolted to the front and back walls to form the mounting for the lid to bolt to.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps4bb90495.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psf0461983.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psfc8b262c.jpg
The robot looks great, whwn you have finished it would be interesting to see how good that sabertooth is as i was debating to use one in the robot i am currently building but chose the slightly more expensive scorpions. The robot looks good. Keep up the good work and i would love to see this moving.
Thank you for the reply!! Glad you like it, my plan is to build as many batty robots as I can lol. The Sabertooth was originally going to be a 2x25A but when I had a look the 2x12A looked up to the job.I was looking at the Scorpions but struggled to get hold of one. That and they were a lot dearer. So far it's been a £3 roasting tin, £20 worth of Gimson's, £40 Sabertooth and £10 or so's worth of wheels. Add to that the £25 radio and £25 battery that's on the way and the whole robot has been build for around £130. Then if it drives and is rubbish I'll gradually add money to it where needed to get it ok ish lol.
Wow thats great. For the money you have spent and the parts you have, you have done amazingly. I am currently building my first robot and have spent 210 pounds and expect to pay a further 180 pounds. I would love to see this project with a weapon as the ideas you have are great.
Which designs do you have for robots? I come up with different shapes everyday and sketch them on envelopes n all sorts. I'd like to get the roasting dish up and running and then build a proper ground up robot. I'm just trying to come up with a cool weapon that's not a spinner, at the minute a big pair of jaws is winning lol. I'm half way through making a plastic set of jaws to see if the mechanism works first. I'm also really digging the idea of a chewer like Pussykat.
I like stuff that's different, Craig Colliass' robots are cool. I like Mini Mighty Mouse and and Tiny Toon as well. Oh and Little Hitter is a really clever bit of packaging.
I come up with quite complex designs and i prefer to use weapons like you said, pincers but my all time favourite weapon would have to be a crusher much like razer however i do not posses the knowleedge, courage or experiance to even try to do this weapon. On my current robot i am using an axe as it is simple and i can flip myself over if i am flipped. As in all robots spinners are a problem and for axes and pincers this may be a problem as there is a possibility that they could get broken but if you have a good design, much like yours, you could be a lethal opponent to battle.
I worry about spinners. I think the more intricate and cool your design is the more likely it is to get damaged by a spinner. For instance if you made a really cool pair of jaws, they'd get ripped straight off at the first spinner that clipped them lol. I've been thinking about spinners and what it would take to not only survive, but also fight back. I think the basic gist is to have something angled you can stuff in the blade that will stop the blade, but also deflect a lot of the energy. I think I have a good idea for this, and also for drums since most drums spin upwards. I'll sketch what I mean later and stick it up here lol.
I find that spinners are really overpowered but mega cool but i like a challenge and will never make a featherweight spinner. i want to see if my robots are really well designed and built and how better to test this then to another robot that has the upper hand. I would never build a spinner but i encourage anyone to as they are great robots to use.
I've made the brackets to hold the lid on today, and am going to order the battery now. Umming and arring whether to get a 12v flight pack or get two 7.2v tamiya packs and wire them together for 14.4v. Things will be a lot cleaner and better designed with a simple single pack.
Well it's done, 2 x 7.2v Tamiya packs and a intelli-charger on it's way. Just moving some more money to Paypal to get a Tamiya discharger that's saved in my watch list. Now all I really have left is to get a radio set.
Some other bits got done over the weekend so I thought I'd stick some pictures up. You can see the battery in the corner now, and in the later pictures the angle ally that will hold the lid on. All in weight at the minute is 4kg so I'm on target for the cluster bot I'm looking to build lol. At the minute I like the idea of the Saucepan of Doom or the Pressure Cooker of Doom. I'm also entertaining ideas for the Wok of Doom.
From the batty workshops of Team Smoothie! please enjoy lol.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps89fe0689.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psc631ce51.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps666da912.jpg
Edit: I also thought that putting up the basic wiring diagram might also help folks out if they ever stumble across this and are looking to do anything similar to the way we've done it.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps1d520c82.jpg
I've been worried about the lack of a decent weapon for the roasting dish and that it only weighed 4kg. Whilst wandering about I've come across these 2x 5mm steel plates (4kg each) and they have pre-cut edges on and everything. So I've decided to somehow turn them into an articulated bull dozer blade for the front with a corresponding box section framework I'm gonna build into the rest of the robot. I have a picture of the plates I found, and if I can dream up a way of turning them into a dozer blade I'll bung up a sketch.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps7ebc82bd.jpg
We have serious designs on the go but I keep getting this massive urge to have a policy of building combat robots only from already existing household objects. And also to buy a pair of Jaws of Life.
Making them out of house hold objects would be cooler, make it more interesting to watch, as adds more diversity to the robots, I made my first bot out of a grass collected off an old lawn mower, and I plan to eventually re use to body and make a new robot out if it as I think it would be cool. So I like the idea of house hold stuff! Could use 4 small woks and make a mini stinger out of it...
That's such a good idea! I started with my Dad last summer on the road to building robots. Since then he's had a heart attack and not really all that interested in taking part anymore. So after loads of delays I joined up myself and started with the Roasting Dish cause it was easy to build. But it's been so much fun recycling loads of stuff to bolt on to it I'm thinking of having like a team ethos whereby I'll only build robots out of old items or premade things I've found from skip diving lol. I suppose building a heavyweight this way is my ultimate challenge lol.
I don't know your age, but you can build cool and competitive robot using basic tools and material, such as HDPE.
The roasting dish is a good way to learn, but i think that if you take it to an event, it might get into pieces even against a speedy wedge.
You already have some good components, such as your motors and speed controllers, building an electric lifter is simple and easy, why not go that way?
I think people here in the forum would help you in what they could.
Don't take my words in the wrong way, i personally love homemade/rudimentary/low-tech robots.