So you'll just use the first stage of the drill gearbox? How are you holding the 3 planet gears still? Or are you just using the second stage then holding the output shaft of the drill gearbox still and using that as you axel?
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So you'll just use the first stage of the drill gearbox? How are you holding the 3 planet gears still? Or are you just using the second stage then holding the output shaft of the drill gearbox still and using that as you axel?
I don't think he's using either stage, looks like the motor will engage directly with the ring gear. I imagine the hole-shaped object (possibly a hole :P) in the HDPE hub will be where the axle/shaft goes.
I'm not going to use any other drill parts, just the ring gear and the motor itself. The setup will run like this:
http://13q.imghost.us/5s/DSC_0043shrunk.jpg
I'm off to Lisbon today to meet Alex, who's on holiday, and Guilherme. I cut a strip of 4cm tall 2mm steel this morning, which when I get back I'll bend around the wheel, to hold the axle, motor face, and be armour of sorts. I don't know how it's possible that I've gone from the weapon-ed beetle to focusing on this in about 36 hours, but I have!
Did some more fiddling yesterday.
http://13q.imghost.us/VW/DSC_0041%20(2)shrunk.jpg
The steel was a pain in the behind to bend, just don't have the right tools and work surfaces to do it. It came out alright though. It's really heavy, as I expected, at over 200g for the steel alone. I'll be lightening it eventually.
The reason it's seemingly so oversized is because I'm building it to allow for the larger tyres shown above. 30mph is just too attractive a prospect to ignore! The gap between the two folds behind the motor is to take 10mm HDPE, which will fit into the mirror of this piece on the other side too. The robot will be built around the resulting H shape.
Next is to drill all the holes in the right places, wang a few nuts and bolts in, and stick a battery on it!
Brilliant :). No one will be able to catch it!
http://13q.imghost.us/gK/DSC_0044shrunk.jpg
http://13q.imghost.us/Y9/DSC_0045shrunk.jpg
Will film a test video in the morning. :)
And yes this is far too heavy, at over 500g for this alone. I think I can deal with that though.
Just an idea which will save you weight and the hassle of bending the steel...why dont you use a rectangular section aluminium, and bolt on two angles on it for holding the hdpe...It will be much easier and accurate imho
.Attachment 3997
When I first saw this I assumed it was Ali box section.
You could use the wheel surrounds as armour too.
That would be the alternative plan. I did it this way because I have the steel already, and I'm hoping to go as far as possible without spending a dime on this particular build. I could either do the box section trick (if I can find it big enough, which won't be very cheap) or build it out of HDPE/Nylon, which would still be lighter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Liftoff
I intend to essentially mount everything off these steel plates, the base and top won't be much more than any 1mm plastic, to hold the wires in!
I do have some nice red anodised checkerplate ali which I could use, just a tad reluctant to use it because it's so pretty. :P
what size are you after? ali rectangular section comes in a variety of sizes and doesn't cost much, I'd say for what you need it'll cost you £10
Ellis...I have some 1.2mm Ti...would you like some. I can bring it to Deeside?
@Chris, the inside space is 80x40. Probably a standard...
@Shane, yessy pleasey! Discussed that elsewhere. :)
----------------
Here's a little test video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RKCRsMOUnU
This should just about do for you, 80x40x4mm ali section:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminium-Box-Tube-80mm-x-40mm-x-4mm-Wallx250mm-Long-/160326529256?pt=UK_BOI_Metalworking_Milling_Weldin g_Metalworking_Supplies_ET&hash=item255434b0e8
Should be strong enough for your use as it's 6000 series alloy.
Btw, good job with the testing, really interesting.
Thanks for the link. Price seems very reasonable. I could pick some of that up for stock whilst in the UK, got plenty of baggage weight to play with! However for now I'm just going to put the steel frame aside, even though I like its strength, and make a simple boxy HDPE chassis. Don't have time for anything more. I expect a Gonzales 2 to happen at some point, in which case I'll have more time to think about the shape.
I didn't get much done tonight, but I got a new wheel on the go. Same concept, but a lot stronger, and with a much thicker and more durable tyre material.
This morning the post office really coughed up the goods!
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...0048shrunk.jpg
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...0046shrunk.jpg
The new additions are the disc itself, the shaft visible, and the plate of ti it's all sitting on. Nice doing business, Mario!
The bearings I bought are going to be a nice tap-fit, that's one less thing to worry about.
Also might as well throw in a pic of the Gonzales' new wheels...
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...60shrunk-1.jpg
Today's task is simply to get a move on with anything!
Post about the wheel-making process up on the site!
Have cut some of the HDPE:
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...0582shrunk.jpg
Big robot is big.
Starting to put it all together, tomorrow should be a bolt-up-fest.
http://aug.imghost.us/EnIx.jpg
It's all just sitting together save the bolts visible on the front. Didn't make much progress today, or it didn't feel like it. I did make my own m4 barrel nuts, though, which I'll be using to hold on the ti front:
http://aug.imghost.us/EnLj.jpg
I will be getting some decent m4 bolts, as the ones I'm working with at the moment are made out of spray-painted cheese.
As always, looks awsome! Now just waiting for the uncontrollable test drive!!!
Looks amazing, what escs are you using? Botbitz?
I'm not sure in the long run. For Deeside Harry is letting me use a Scorpion XL. For testing before then I might throw in T2's tz85's or maybe the old Electronizes. I do have some 10a Botbitz now but I'd fully expect to fry them if I were to use those in this.
Could go a halfway house and nab a set of the new 30a Botbitz, if they'd fit!
Thanks both.
Brushless motor and speedo ordered, along with 3 belts, 2 large pulleys and a single motor pulley.
Also ordered a BEC for Gonzales, which currently sits like this:
http://aug.imghost.us/FOPS.jpg
http://aug.imghost.us/FOQ2.jpg
Tonight might see a test drive...
After a true first test drive being completely useless, with the Elctronize test speedos on variable pwm, meaning their low end control was rubbish, I was actually pretty disheartened. It didn't appear to have a chance of being controllable.
Today I tweaked the speedos some and, despite their clunky nature, managed to get it driving to a point where a video was worth it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjJd-5jstUc
Extra points for the box of electronics taped on top!
Will be getting a Scorpion XL kindly put forward by Harry for Deeside, and I still have hopes to get a gyro in there. Add the centre of gravity being improved, as the electronics gradually relocate actually inside the body, and the overkill nature of it might become remotely usable. :)
You need to try fit it with traction control, that would solve all your drive problems, I think...
Internal space is the limiting factor. At this rate, if I go for a gyro, it'll probably have to sit outside the main chassis, behind the scoop...
There are dozens of cheap options on Ebay to get a gyro in there and play with it, such as this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-RC-Hel...50839523377%26
What would people recommend? Do those things work, or are they too cheapy to be worth it?
Head lock gyro not very good for combat, it will turn you back to the direction you were facing when you armed up when your fingers are off the stick. Not good if you're near a pit.
GWS P-03 is worth it's cost, and a gyro switcher as well (invertable robots need it).
Can't believe I'm saying this but, work on the beetle spinner has begun very briefly tonight. Bent a piece of 6mm hdpe into a 240mm long channel.
So that's 8 days left to build it top to bottom. And hobbyking have only just dispatched the weapon motor and ESC. I expect that to take at least 7 days to get here.
Last minute robot building hoorah!
Ladies and gentlemen, you have no idea how much pestering that took to get him to do that and start the bloody build haha
Before cutting the HDPE I had one final stab at making a "proper" hub for the wheels. Without the right tools it's dead difficult to get something square, so this is a bit wonky, but some of you might recognise the attachment method for the wheel. ;)
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...0183shrunk.jpg
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...0182shrunk.jpg
Am giving up on the spinner beetle until further notice. Further notice meaning until we own a mini lathe. Yesterday and today I tried everything possible to shape the weapon pulley and the piece that goes on the opposing side of the weapon correctly, and both are way off centre, as I have come to expect from the cheap pillar drill. Turns out pillar drills can't do everything. ;)
So that's a bit of a bummer, but I have bought a gyro for Gonzales, so assuming it actually fits, that should be running nicely for Deeside. Whilst in the UK we're going to look at a particular lathe, size 7x14, and if we like it/can afford it, we may just get it and be done.
So that's that. In the long run, the machine(s) will benefit hugely. I could possible have had something running but it'd be a bit rubbish at best, and I don't want to make something only to have it kill itself/and or take it apart a week later.
Have cut the scoop and bolted it on. Nearing the limit of what I can do here, the rest of the parts are either being kindly put forward by Harry or are waiting for me in the UK, so will get done just ahead of the event.
Picture spam:
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...0216shrunk.jpg
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...2132shrunk.jpg
The bolts holding the scoop will be changed for better ones, and I may bury the heads in some 6mm hdpe.
Looks naff. Start again.
lol
Can anyone help with a scorpion xl problem?
In testing, a small jolt caused one side of the robot to stop working, at first we thought it was just a loose joint. There was a lose joint, that was fixed but one side remained broken. It seems to give just enough to give a little trickle of power to an LED but nothing like as bright as it should be. No motor movement. Both motors are fine and functional, and the left hand side is fine. The red/green directional LED's on the scorpion still work.
Checked battery, signal; tx/rx and the wiring.
Any thoughts?
Cheers. Harry/Ellis
Edit: yes, tried recalibrating, made no difference...
Only useful thing I can suggest is recalibration if you've not already done it. Or have a close look at the PCB tracks and all connections to see if there's any damage or swarf on the board causing a short circuit. Can't think of much else I'm afraid.
Forgot to update this!
I arrived at Harry's and we got busy breathing life into Gonzales. He did all of the wiring, as I've never really done much wiring myself and figured he'd do a much better job, which he did. We did several tests in his shed and managed to get the gyro working. Phwoar that felt good, it drove very nicely. He put forward his Scorp XL, a BEC, HDPE for a base, polycarb for the top, and I got to eat lots of bacon between times. Pretty swell guy.
Anyway, on the evening before I was due to leave, one half of the scorpion died, as the post above shows. Never got it going again, currently have new fets on their way to replace one that appears dodgy.
Thankfully, Mr. McHarg sacrificed his XL to get the thing running, and it worked perfectly. Thanks again man!
Only got a chance to "fight" 3 times at Deeside. Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO646De3SYk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRTfTTIfVFI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2fajPhge1s
There were some issues, as the videos show. First was simply that guts started coming out the top, that was due to there not being enough space for all of the wiring inside. Simple fix of tightening the top a little more. Second failure was the pinion on one motor went walkies. Roughing up the shaft and some decent glue solved that ahead of the third video, where it seemed to perform without a problem.
Other problems: wiring needs to be more organised, motors got very hot, needs more LEDs.
Overall: very happy. I'm surprised it lasted. I eventually want to remake the wheels, or at least hold the tyres on better, as they began to work off the hub once or twice. Also want to put the remaining 50g into a thicker ti scoop, I can't see this one surviving a fight against 180 with its weapon blaring!
Gonzales 2 thoughts already happening gah.
Well, it's still good to see some UK beetles in action. Good luck with them!
With the Stevenage event in September now definitely featuring beetles, I have some work to do. Gonzales still works fine - I forget if I posted this on the forum:
http://youtu.be/CYIOKBvA_qs
^wish YT urls wouldn't automatically embed
- but it was built in a week or so and tapped HDPE just doesn't sit well anymore. I might put in a smaller battery to save enough weight for a strip of steel on the wedge and for some inserts/more barrel nuts. Would be nice to make new wheels out of a single bit of nylon too.
I'm also going to try and build something new between now and then. I made the first part a few weeks ago; a 12mm dead shaft:
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...3072014734.jpg
The disc I got earlier in this thread has now gone to a new home. I designed a disc for Harry's undercutter a month or two ago, but the price (thanks to Guilherme) was so good I wanted one too lol. It (they) arrived this morning.
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC_0240.jpg
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...4bd5eab27a.jpg
It's 4mm hardox and 180mm diameter, which after feeling in real life I now think the weapon support materials I have won't be strong enough but it'll have to do, can't get anything else in time - only needs to last one event anyway.
The first pretendos, also giving a sense of scale:
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC_0238.jpg
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSC_0239.jpg
Battery and motor are the smallest I can get away with (I think) so I can give the disc some proper support later down the line.
Got 3 machines to repair and upgrade and a 4th to actually build, aaaaaa.
Cheers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ellis
Kitty is best scale :3
http://i.imgur.com/czaAEJm.jpg
But yeah looks sweet man. Make it spin now plz. Great job on the disc design. Can't wait to see mine IRL.