I'm doubtful that any other middles will be running at edinburgh bearing in mind how close it is and how few other machines are running.
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I'm doubtful that any other middles will be running at edinburgh bearing in mind how close it is and how few other machines are running.
middleweight is on hold. Speedos aren't wanting to work and I have another new project in the pipelines which is gonna be interesting and deadly (aren't they always!)
this new one still going to be a middleweight?
Ill bring the speedos along to Edinburgh and anyone can have a tinker around and see if they can get them to behave themselves.
no, feather
What speedos are they?
They're 4QD NCC-35s
whats wrong with them? what interface are you using?
They just don't seem to be working, but I didn't know if they were working to begin with although there are no obvious problems. Not sure on what interface it is, I'll get a photo of it posted and maybe you will know what it is. The interface is lighting up and lights are flashing on it (nice and vague I know) but the controller doesn't seem to be doing anything. I have tried both of them too.
have you shorted out the inhibit pins?
Possibly, I have no idea what I am doing with them. Other than how they plug in to one another and to the motor and battery I have no idea how they work.
How would I know if I had done that Alan?
depends what interface you have, if its a Derek Foxwell one (can be seen here http://splashwomble.netii.net/images/ro ... ronics.jpg ), then there will be 2x two pin connector blocks on it, these should have a jumper in them (the blue looped wires on the pic). Its basically an off switch for the controller.
Ahh I see, I will add a picture of it after this post. It is not that one sadly.
Its a Ian Swann interface, never used one so don't know much about them. Technobots use to sell them, might be worth popping them an email see if they have a copy of the manual for it. I use these in Battleaxe and my off roader http://www.4qd.co.uk/accs/dmr3.html
I did have a copy of the manual, but Jamie has nabbed it :lol: . I'll see if he has any ideas if he's managed to read it.
The good news is that I have now read them :)
And I think I might know the issue. The flashing LEDs indicate that the interface is in configuration mode, which is where you can set ramp rates, weapon switching points and all that jazz. Don't worry too much about that stuff just now.
I'm going to repost your picture to help keep track of things:
http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/...5-19235432.jpg
You've got your two cables on the left-hand side that connect to your receiver. There are five plugs and they're currently plugged into the top two; well, that's the issue :P
Working from the top, the five plugs are:
- Configuration input
Weapon 1 input
Weapon 2 input
Left/right input
Forward/reverse input
So if you put the forward/reverse plug (bottom input) into the elevator socket on the receiver and the left/right plug (second-bottom input) into the aileron socket, that should give you single stick control and it should all work (in theory!)
According to the manual, to enter configuration mode, you move the left/right connector (J6) to the configuration input (top one, J3), turn the transmitter on and then power up the interface, wait for the LEDs to stop sequencing, and then the configuration setup can begin.
There's too much involved in the configuration process for me to explain here (and I only half understand it all without seeing the board and LED patterns) but since I've now read the manuals, I'll stick them in the post since they'll now be of more use to you :)
Ahhhhh I see, I will give that a try and see if the outcome is any better. I did notice that the LED was blinking differently when I put leads in various different connectors, but without the manual I would have been there for days with all the different combinations.
Well the manual is now in the...ahem...capable hands of Royal Mail, so you may never see it again :proud:
Cheers Jamie, I couldve just got it off you at Edinburgh didnt have to to to all that trouble. Ill see if whatbyouve explained works anyways
just wondering, whats the deal with middle weights at the minute?
i've got a pair of wheel chair motors with gokart wheels attached and a ton of other parts and i fancy making a middle weight flipper to have a bit of fun with.
im ment to be doing my heavy atm and more than anything its a pain working on it cos of a lack of space so im only doing things to it every so often but i wouldn't mind making a middle as im getting some free time to do something robot related comming up.
just wondering how many other middles are about atm?
if you aint gunner use them, ill take them :lol:
Gary, Jamie and I were going to build one for RL Edinburgh but decided against it due to time constraints, I cant speak for all of us but we will probably do it at some point after Edinburgh when there aren't many competitions we're going to and have more time on our hands.
If we can see a middleweight fight happen then I think it will encourage more people to build them
Hopefully yes, the problem is that we have to travel 5 odd hours per event (usually) and probably wont do that if there is only a small chance of us actually getting a fight.
I think we counted roughly 3-4 middles that exist at the moment, even if they are in different states of completion/repair not including our one.
build one and sell it on? :lol:
you can hold the title of the only working middleweight in Scotland?
Its fairly easy to get titles like that in Scotland, all 4 of us probably have some sort of claim to fame in that sense :lol:
I'm gonna claim the title of most pish grabby bot in Scotland :D
The middleweight typhoon is still in a runnable condition last time i seen it however no arena could run it.Quote:
you can hold the title of the only working middleweight in Scotland
Now that the initial excitement is gone i'm hesitant to get involved heavily in building a middleweight as like Tony says, 5 hours each way is a pain in the proverbial. The parts I have could also be thrown into a heavyweight and I have several other bits and pieces that could allow me to build a heavy however I just don't get that excited by heavyweight events to the same degree as featherweights, it's the lack of spinners and damage for the most part.
Yet also the most awesome grabby bot in Scotland too :D
Do the Typhoons head along to Edinburgh Gary or are they being kept for the event they have the week after? Would be interesting to see them, would definitely shadow what i'm bringing along anyway.
Also, I suppose we could go for a Team Scotland heavy if a resurgence in the middles doesn't happen if you'd be more interested in that. Would be a shame for all the bits you have to go to waste, and not test the kinetic axe idea out either. We could build one of those very rare not-a-flipper heavyweights instead. Plenty of time to discuss that in the coming months/years though.
I believe one of typhoon 2's shells will be on display at the comp.
A heavyweight is an idea certainly. Once my lathe is up and running i think the axe will be a more viable idea as i will be able to machine a custom threaded shaft for the disc to move along using a high quality steel, I don't think standard threaded rod will be able to take the forces from a heavyweight axe
A heavyweight that aint a flipper would be great, something different :)
We have plenty of time between Edinburgh and any other competition within our reach (I imagine) to see if/what we decide to do anyway
an axe bot would be really good to see, dont see many of them and not many new axe bots either :)
I know Tom has a good looking MW called Maxus.
Anyways. I think MW's could be good for those starting out.
*Grabs pen and paper and begins drawing*
i think we're ignoring the obvious here, what about lightweights!?
Obese featherweights in my opinion. Middleweights are nicely spaced weight-wise between feathers and heavies, good if you want something bigger but not as heavy as 100kg. To me, lightweights are one weight-class too many. Either go slightly smaller and build a feather or slightly larger and build a middle (ignoring the fact that middles currently aren't popular)
I guess you could apply the above reasoning to almost every weight class, but the LW category just seems unnecessary.
im with jamie on that, LW is just pointless. i would like to see someone build a middleweight since it would encorage more people too build larger bots, but done have the time, space or experience for HW. you never know, we could see MW's become the new FW's in terms of popularity in time