29th December 2007 - Robo Challenge at Thinktank

Im in two minds Adrian: on one hand Id be inclined to build to 13.6kg so that I dont have to add weight to a completed robot after the event; on the other hand Ive entered both robots in the competition and really want to compete in it rather than just do the whiteboards.

Having said that, after laying out the pile of parts the other day Ive been able to get Drumroll down to a seriously compact size (about 350mmx350mm, drum and all) so the damn thing will probably still come in underweight even if I dont pay attention to weight usage :)

who might that be James? :wink:

Adrian.. why only 3kg?.. :proud:

ive heard you have gone for a 4kg u nutter :wink:?,and its probably powered by a lem, i went with 3 to give me enough weight for some ridiculously strong armour:proud:, after seeing tony booths creation! im really looking forward to next year, their are some really interesting looking robots appearing, and still the same nasty ones from before. you got any pics yet dave of 360? i will update my pic shortly, will be finished in the next couple of weeks, then i will put a full spec on here.






(Message edited by ady on November 08, 2007)

Looks pretty sturdy so far Ady, i pressume your going to hang all your drive components of the box section frame?

What dia is the disc tooth to tooth?

4kg? lol. Keep guessing. Nope, no pics, or specs yet.. even our Ed doesnt know the full details of what im doing yet :P

If all goes to plan, it should be 360 + Ploughbot as the team to beat.

ok mr top secret, im not telling anymore!! :proud:,no its changed alot since that pic!! the disk, gearbox and motors are still the same, but the frame has all changed, decided to go for a good quality drive so it was back to the drawing board!, it is invertible still though. will be finished shortly so now i will post a pic and not give any spec. :lol:
will yours be finished for this event?



(Message edited by ady on November 08, 2007)

btw which disk diameter? the one on the pic or the other 2 that are interchangeable:wink:,

Not sure if I am going to be able to attend this event. Got a hell of a lot of work to do on hornet 2 (trust me to spend £160 on some custom ali pulleys and then the weight limit goes up!) and very little time to do it in.

Like others here not sure if I should bother building a 12kg spec machine when the limit goes up a few days later.

Gary, if you build it to 13.6 we can all go in the arena together and smash something up. or have a playfight? just think of all that lovely new armour you can fit. 1.6kg worth!

Unfortunately Im going to have to pull Snakebite from this event. Biggest factor: money. I made a list of everything I need from things like batteries and hardox for the claw/base brace all the way down to fixings etc and I thought I could JUST afford it. But Id completely forgotten to factor in accomodation and petrol costs (especially considering current petrol price rises) plus I still need to buy fixings etc for Drumroll. So Ive decided to concentrate purely on Drumroll for this event since spinners are allowed. Ill bring the prototype Snakebite along anyway just for display though, and itll hopefully be running in 2008.

Dan, I know I offered to team up with you in the competition but unfortuntely its just not feasible at the moment to get Snakebite running and pay the uni bills. Im really sorry dude, hopefully theres still plenty of robots un-partnered that you could team with.

It sounds like theres some really good robots in the build at the moment, nice to see more crushers and deffinatly more spinners. But how did the specs of 360 get round, although those specs are now out of date since the disc has been made:lol:
Looks like this event will be the debut of some very good robots!
Just to let people know, Ploughbot WILL be running this time. I have been spending my weekends working on bits for it, along side machining 360s supposedly 4kg disc.

actually thinking about it, it was dave who told me about his new fw a few months back at Telford. i thought he said a 4kg disk. one thing i have learned in my new projects is titanium is blimin expensive:wink:,
will 360 be joining us in destroying a microwave or something in the arena, trying to think what to bring

(Message edited by ady on November 09, 2007)

Titanium... expensive? Nah. Not when youve got friends :) http://www.titanium.comwww.titanium.com sponsor 360 and Turbulence. Yeah, depends how James wants the shows to run, Might do some demos with venom or somthing.. It will be sorted out closer to the time no doubt.

I remeber talking to you about a feather i was thinking about making in the lunch breaks.. I dont think anything we talked about made it to the final designs though, But yes, its still a spinner lol

Part one of DB5 upgrades have been completed this afternoon. It is now faster and more powerfull. Part to is the weapon which I now should have time to complete before the end of the year. Really looking forward to this event it was good fun last year.

Hang on, just realised DB5 still has no Titanium on. That will have to change!

Adrian
You are welcome to a fight with Ironside, taking on discs is what it was built for, but never gets the chance.

Trev

Guys... with all this bragging about whos got the heaviest disk (Seems like a classic case of mine is bigger than yours!! :blush:)
Have you all forgoten a very basic principal...
Its not a question of mass... Its a question of VELOCITY!!
You go off and play with with your mass and Ill just concentrate on making mine quick! :proud:

(Then well see if Newton was right! :wink:)

quote:

Have you all forgoten a very basic principal...
Its not a question of mass... Its a question of VELOCITY!!

So how does 3kg at 7000rpm sound? :proud:

(yeah I know 7000rpm will be far too fast, but thats what the speedos for :P)

Not always the case Geoff, Its a questoin of energy.
When you have mass, diameter and speed you get ALOT of energy :lol:.
With 2 teeth its pointless going too fast as you wont get any engagement on the opponent as gary found out at the euros.

lol, its heavy and fast. Happy?

i dont mind not having a heavy disk, 3 kg seemed ideal for me, with a good spinning speed. plus i have extra weight for armour not going heavier. with the fw around nowadays im not looking/thinking im gonna cause too much damage to my opponent, just a good display. cheers for your offer trev, will be a good test for me. i have a good speed from my setup, hopefully it will perform ok. My main robot will be a newer version of prodigy with a flipper, as their is not too many events for spinners, just wanted something nasty for occasional use.



(Message edited by ady on November 11, 2007)

Since when is a 3 kg disk not heavy on a feather?

When you can have a 4kg disc instead :)

But seriously, I would test your uber fast discs before competition at full welly. You may well find that if the dimensions arent right you will have an exceptionally heavy grinding disc.

Thats why when it comes to extreme RPM, I prefer a bar to a disc... OK, not the most aerodynamic option (But with a well geared LEM-130 behind it .. what the hell!!) but it sure gets around the engagement problem! :wink:

Lol I know its not technically allowed in the rules but you could shape the bar in a such a way to create a negative pressure and sucker yourself to the floor, would be interested to know just how much down force you could create with a LEM :)

updated pic of prodigy evo on profile, spin up and smashing something up vids will be online shortly. still work to do not finished yet but will be just in time for dec29th

(Message edited by ady on November 11, 2007)

Very nice Adrian, but I do have one question, what is the A frame that supports the disc attached to with regard to chassis / bodywork? (serious question)
Also is that a solid state relay hiding in the back right hand corner?
Gary, Im not sure how much suck you could extract, but with a bit of clever design it could be a serious amount!! :proud:

i see where your coming from Geoff, no no, the a frame is mounted onto a chassis, underneath drive, weapon gearbox etc.... not easy to see on that pic, yes that is a solid state realys you see in the pic

There are 2 Solid state relays powering 1 motor each for the disk. They are the SY4086 SSRs that the Australians use to power their magmotors.

Geoff, the A-frame is actualy a bottom part that connects the drive to the weapon, the top is bolted on with sufficiently strong bolts.

The axle of the disk is welded in the bottom frame and centred and bolted in the top frame.
To the back of that A frame, a steel spine is welded and used to bolt on the weapon gearbox and the drivetrain main brace-steel angle- is welded on that.

The weapon gearbox ,what was a solid billet of ali, acts as a stiffner for the spine between A frame and Drivetrain, not unlike the engine in the better hi-power motorbikes.

The armor, constructed according to Adrians wishes is bolted, with a lot 8.8 grade bolts, to the bottom A frame and the steel angle what forms the main brace of the drivetrain. The top plate of the armor can be removed seperatly

For ease of maintenance the weapon gearbox can be removed without undoing the bottom and/or side armor.

All welds TIG welded, and all the bolts used to connect top and bottom A frame, as well the weapon gearbox are 10.9 quality.

Adrian, the power of this thing is so, I wont try to smash something without me far far away with the remote in my hands. The tests at my workbench scared the bejeeves out of me. And thats just spin-up and down.

its ok Mario, if anything gets damaged it will be an old camcorder on a stand in the corner of the room, i will be watching on a tv screen linked to the camcorder. without putting it into an arena it was the only safe idea we came up with.

360 = FBS?

Adrian / Mario, Thats fine, it just wsnt too clear from the photo.. and you know how paranoid I get about the safety of any spinner.
Looking forward to seeing it in action!

no probs geoff, no sound sorry, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM_Me-SaenQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM_Me-SaenQ

Ive talked about the suction that can be created by a bar spinner with a few people at events.. would technicaly be similar in principal to the suckers john reid tryed out in killerhurts as far as the rules are concerned?

Someone correct me if im wrong.

the other problem is.. if you have a bar areodynamic enough to give a decent amount of downforce when driving around to a robot like Little spinner.. when the robots inverted.. so is the areofoil of the blade.. therefore youd have nothing more then a pretty dangerous helicopter :) ...Again correct me if im wrong, but flying combat robots arnt allowed.

the rules say that exposed aerofoils are not allowed. Perhaps if you had a bar spinner with a dome cover over the top so that only the teeth were showing? But you had some large holes in the top of the dome that allowed a flow of air through.

I guess it would depend on the event organiser as to whether or not they would allow it to run as the aero foils would not be its primary mode of movement, merely an aside (spinning upside down to self right)?

This of course depends on being able to fit in an aerofoil bar strong enough to take a hit but shaped to be able to provide suction (or lift)

Thats fine Jamie.

Anyone else not got a partner?

Tiny Toon is looking for a tag team partner for Robo Challenge. Any offers?
Having trouble with the website to sign up anyone know whats wrong?

James/Grant have any of the plans been finalised yet?

I need to soon get a car hire booked etc. For anyone else looking for hire over the same period, enterprise are doing a half price offer if you take the car for 4 days. Not too shabby! :)

Hey Clive,i will partner with tiny toon if you want to partner up with me.

Do you support the toon by any chance?

scratch my previous post about possibly not being at this event. Hornet 2 will be there and just as deadly as ever.

The website is back up and running due to some server problems, but the signup page is still playing up. We will try and get the problem sorted out as soon as possible.
More info on the event will be out soon.
Also, If your interested in having a heavyweight on display, or you beleive your robot would be great in a demonstration on the friday then drop either james or I an e-mail and we will get back to you.

Coop_bmx@msn.com
james@robochallenge.co.uk