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Congrats Colin, sounds like a successful event especially given you were running 3 machines solo!
Nice to hear that everything was CV safe as well - not that I had any reason to think it wouldn't be, but after 6 months working from home and reading too many news stories I start to worry about these things so that's reassuring.
I've only been to one Dojo since Covid hit, but I have to say it's extremely well covered. There's four pages of Covid info and risk assessments included in the emails that competitors have to read first, everything is laid out to minimise contact/distance/risk etc and as Colin mentioned, Ian is on the ball with keeping things in check. Far more reassuring than the UK Government most of the time :lol:
Make do and mend...........
I'm from an era when making do and mending was the norm and I guess that helps when
you build Robots on a shoestring budget as i do.
So on investigation I found both of my Robots wheels on Project fear were damaged-one buckled and the other
I tried to plastic weld at Robodojo but it may not have lasted another fight.
Now I could have ordered some new castors off e bay and it's always nice to receive a parcel but I thought
a good refabricating session on a rainy day would be more fun, plus I save about £6.:proud:
I started by removing both wheels and knocking out the central boss where the spindle goes-this
was quite easy to do so it's a indication why they failed, then I used my hole saw cut four wheel
panels to sandwich either side of where the wheel boss used to be and after hammering them into
the wheel inner core I drilled a hole to fit the drive shaft.
After bolting them back in place on the Robot I'm pretty confident they will now out perform
the original wheels.
pictures
1 the plastic welding I did at Robodojo
2 cutting the wheel cores out of plywood
3 finished article
4 project fear
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It's great to see you're sticking by these bots and doing your best to get them running again on the usual shoestring budget, demonstrating exactly what can be done at even the lower end of things! Project Fear might need a repaint, seems someones had a go at its eyes!
Hopefully it won't be too long before you're able to get them back into action, and perhaps this time you might not need to go solo with your army of bots.
Thank's Adam
Good to see yourself and other Roboteers getting back into the Robot vibe, despite the Corona virus refusing
to go away!.
To be honest we did learn about pandemics at school but I'm guessing nobody thought it would happen
in the modern age with all the medicines we have-luckily its not the black death!.
Yes running 3 Robots at an event is hard work and keeping up on the paintwork is difficult so yes you are
welcome to lend a hand anytime
2021 looks very exciting despite the Pandemic with new events including walkers planned.
So carry on building and stay safe everyone.
Fault diagnosis.......
Last week was the first real event at Robodojo this year with full combat and sportsman events taking
place so I took driller queen and danger UXB with Project fear as a spare.
So Driller Queen was playing up something chronic and there was no visible damage to the Robot-
forwards and backwards was sort of okay but turning left or right was a real struggle.
The problem I discovered after a full strip down at home was very specific to cordless
drill motors left un modified by grub screws/clutch hack.
I leave my drills with the clutch as is but the screws holding the clutch cover in place
had come loose giving the effect of been on a very low torque setting-maybe 4 or 5
compared to setting 13.
In theory this could still happen even if you grub screw the clutch but the screws would
have to come very very loose.
The repair I used was to tighten the screws and melt weld the casing of the drill to the
clutch housing, because of the unique way I fix my wheels on it would not be possible
to fit grub screws as an afterthought.
It sounds like you could do with a couple of new casings for the drill gearbox. What model do you use as i may have a few spares of the outer casings.
Hi Nat
I'm using Draper drills blue with red caps-they are very short on the body.
At the moment the tightening of the screws seem to have done the job and considering those
motors have had dozens of fights (originally they were in Piece de resistance ) this problem only
just cropped up last week.
I will see how it goes Nat and bear your advice in mind.
Fair enough, If they are similar to black and decker or bosch type, witht he screw on face plate then i should have some. will see if there is a pic in the thread to compare in case for the future
After loaning Project Fear to Brad at the last Robodojo sportsman and it getting a bit
of a pummeling,I have finally got it battle ready again with a few modifications.
Brad commented on how easy it was to drive during an event so no change needed there
but the hammer always seemed quite slow compared to other axes and hammers.
After beefing up the bodywork I decided to address the hammer speed issue which
I have done by altering the ratio from the motor to final drive and it is shockingly
quick now-Project fear is back-be afraid!.
Looking forward to it! Should be good to see you and everyone again at the next one, I was a little bit ill last time right before my train (not the rona), so fingers crossed this time it'll be alright! The Team Death bots - the Piece De Resistance FW especially struck me as lovely to control as it glides across the arena happily. What roster are you bringing next time? :)
Hi Theo
Great to hear from you again.
I always have high hopes before an event-the Robots seem to work so well before receiving a
bashing but that's the game I guess.
I shall be bringing Project Fear/driller Queen and driller Queen Extreme.
Rather than add another post here's the pictures of Driller Queen Extreme before
it gets a bashing.
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After my latest Robodojo excursive I have decided to address my Achilles heal on all my Robots-
namely the slipping clutches, yes I never did the grub screw hack to lock them in place!.
So after a poor showing with Robots not showing their full potential I have decided to do the
hack which will not be easy as I have welded axles into the drill chucks which are still attached.
This will also reduce the weight of the Robots as each chuck weighs around 300 grams.
If you can still unscrew the gearbox frim the motor half, you can remove the gears and thread the holes from the inside of the gearbox to then put the m5 grub screws in.
Just leave them shy of surface by 2mm that should be enough to lock the gearbox.
That's how you can get around your welded shafts.
Thanks Nat I will see which method is best tomorrow and hope to get every Bot done.
Well it only took 25 years but at long last team Death achieved a podium finish at a event (Robodojo) I got 3rd place in the Sportsman featherweight with Danger UXB and you might say I got lucky but I put it down to focus and I'm feeling pretty pleased.
Congratulations! Persistence pays off, eh? :P
With the renewed interest in Hobby weight robots and Robodojo running a championship event, I have built three hobby weights to take part.
I find this weight class 12lb far easier to build for than the beetles which I find very fiddly.
My latest 12lb bot is built around a balloon inflator cylinder, surprisingly lightweight for it's size, I have cut two large wheels out of polypropylene using a jigsaw.
I'm using two gearboxes from toy tricycles which are very low geared-strong enough to drive big wheels and the front end is a spiked whacking device.
pictures to follow.
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