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I don't think there's really much difference, Makitas are by far the less expensive option but in terms of actual power i think they're pretty much even, i think i read somewhere once that they both use the same motors but i might be wrong Dewalts are maybe just better build quality
Kinda right Sam....
The original plan for Endeavour was in fact to use Dewalts, so we spent near enough £100 on a set of drills that we thought were going to be the Bee's Knees... they weren't! The problem is, on the newer/latest style of Dewalt drills, the motor and gearbox etc, aren't actually conjoined, they're just held together by the case. So when we took them apart we were just left with a pile of bits in our hands. If you look at Michael's Annihilation, you'll see that the motors are still in their cases. This may be the reason why, but don't quote me on that :)
In terms of power comparison, not much in it. Although, the Makitas I have run on 14.4v where as most Dewalts that are used run 18v, so for voltage to power ratio, they're probably a bit better. I like them myself... tough, rugged and plenty of power/speed!
Yeah, been looking at a big drive train for months but can't be bothered with making gearboxes as it won't go well. I mean this with regard to the obvious choice to big power being speed 900 and the like. I saw the DeWalt stuff but that looked a bit technical as well. Which wheels do you use and how have you attached them to the Makita's?
Like most other drill motors/gearboxes, its a bolt on and a reverse screw combination. These motors in particular are a bit a of a pain though because they have a rather wacky thread size
i think im using the same drills for one of the many robots im building, the shaft thread size is a 1/2" unf and there is a hydraulic pipe clamp that im using to hold them and insulation tape to keep the motor lock in to the gearbox
http://s1052.photobucket.com/user/pa...de07e.jpg.html
Btw sam, you'll have to repaint mini e's scoop yellow now :P
Yes that's exactly why Annihilation's motors are still in the cases :) When it was first built we thought it was the biggest bodge on the robot but in seven years it must be the only part that hasn't broken yet! It also helps because the whole thing is held in by rubber straps which helps to absorb shocks quite a lot.
I thought about doing the same for Combustion but decided against it. Main problem is that it makes the whole drive setup a lot bigger than "proper" mountings do and I wanted to make the robot as small as possible. The aluminium mounts look a lot nicer as well :)
right then, update time again....
Well, what can I say? What a cracking weekend at the Gadget Show live and what an unexpected and destructive (+ a bit controversial) set of fights there were too. Well done to all the winners, Tom with Wedgie for the Gladiator, Alex with Tiny Toon for the Annihilator, Team Beast for the 1st + 2nd and of course Ellis for his magnificent 3rd place. That really was the biggest shock (pleasing) of the event for me :D
Any way, in terms of Endeavour's efforts, Meh.... not too bad. Didn't do too badly in the main comp, lost its first fight by being flipped out by Explosion within the first 30 seconds or so. We then had Killer Joule and Devils Coach Horse, we got 4 points from this as Joule got beached and then DCH got beached after we bent their front scoop. Our 3rd fight was against Defector and Massacre. We knocked Massacres link out and then won the match on a judges decision to get 3 points. Lastly we had our fight against NST and Keizer. We were doing really well and taking the hits like a tank, and then we got spun off into the pit by an NST hit, so only got 1 point from that fight. I think we could have taken more hits but yeah, that ain't gona happen when you're in the pit. Over all then we got 9 points, one off from qualifying which is the exactly the same as we got last year :'( Some pics of the bot below:
Endeavour with spinner food attached (worked really well):
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5cbc6e16.jpg
Damage from the NST fight:
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/...ps88fc91c1.jpg
The state of the spinner food after the champs:
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/...pscd976e56.jpg
Now then, we experienced our first strip-down and rebuild at an event this weekend, we burnt out a motor :(. First problem for Endeavour in over a year, luckily we had no more competition fights left to do so we had plenty of time to swap for a new one and the job was done in 2 hours or so. Because of the burn out, we decided to not put it in for any more white boards and just enter it in the Gladiator event as we knew the other side was going to go soon.
In the actual Gladiator fight we were going really well, looking strong dealing with the spinners and putting LH3 in the pit. We were then left with Wedgie, Ricochet and us. We were battling it out for about 3 minutes and then my motor burnt out again leaving us spinning on one wheel and magic smoke coming out of the lid, so yeah came third in that. Once we had opened her up to have a peek inside, we were first met by a unique smell that now fills our garage, but we also found that the motor that had been replaced was the one that had burnt out.... suspiciously! Pics of the burnt out motor:
http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/...ps306d0bda.jpg
The race is now on to fix it and get ready for Burgess Hill in a couple of weeks, it can be done! :D
Ps: We also had some new Hardox corners made by Mario, who has done a great job again. Also, if anyone has any videos of Endeavours fights, can you post them on here please? Cheers :)
Little bit of an update:
Picked up the Migatronic TIG welder from my friends house yesterday, which I posted about in another thread. £250 which I didn't think was to bad! Just got to get the gas, filler rods and a fewer other bits and bobs and we're ready start welding. Expect to see some pictures of some crudely joined metal on here soon.
Also, we're just about the buy the parts for the next FW. In doing so, I cam across something deeply disturbing! It would appear as though TZ85's are out of stock and have been so for the past month or so.... which is a bit concerning. Any body know anything about this?!?!
I noticed that too when I was on the website the other day. The UK warehouse has 'In Transit' written next to it but I don't know if that means more are due in shortly.
To be fair, between Botbitz and people buying their own to hack, we've probably depleted the world's stock levels. Either that or Turnigy have noticed the spike in sales and are wondering 'what the hell is going on here?'