Team Inky

Hello, new member here.

Hey, so far I have two featherweight robots to my name, Stratos and Tankslapper.

Stratos, the flipper which used to be a BattleRat, was taken to the Robots Live event at the Museum of Flight in 2012 where it had a run in with Little Hitter and broke a few internals. It took a hit from the hammer on the aluminium panel, right next to the PCB and damaged it severely. Due to this it now sits on a shelf, inactive.

Tankslapper is the new robot, bought from Tony and Jamie of ScotBots. So far it has one of the interchangeable weapons ready, a solid 9inch aluminium spear attached to the chassis. Another weapon in the pipeline would be a chain flail with some sort of weight at the end, attached to the chassis so it swings around when the robot spins. Having made the spear myself I can guarantee some intense paintwork scratching will happen at the end of it.

I will be taking Tankslapper to the Museum of Flight event this year and also to Glasgow for the Comic Con event, assuming that featherweights are allowed to fight.

Thoughts on my robots are welcomed.


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Nice to see a spike robot. I'd personally be worried about the aluminium bending. Maybes you could do a slightly shorter steel one which would be more hard wearing. How is the spike attached to the robot.

Look forward to seeing more from you.

Oh hey inky!

Tankslapper looks interesting, might get mauled by wedges, will be interesting.

It's got an inch of bar - 1 inch is threaded, 9 inches are outside for the spear - with a smaller diameter that's been threaded, it attaches directly to the chassis which has also been threaded.

Given that I work with offcuts from my school that aren't needed I doubt that I'll be able to get a steel bar.

Welcome!!!

I had a robot with a spike, it was more box section and I filed an edge into it to try and get under people lol.


http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps3a669efc.jpg

What diameter is it? I've got a fair amount of 1" steel round you are welcome to if you pay postage.

About 9mm diameter I think.

Thanks for the offer, but I'll try to see what I can find in the storerooms first.

So I got a bit of work done today when really I should be revising. Got the wedge completely made from scratch out of offcuts of wood and aluminium, and the fixings all sorted, as well as some vinyl for aesthetics. Also got the fixings for the chain attached, all that I need now is some sort of weight to go on the end of the chain, combination lock there for a visual aid.


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The first problem I see with that chain is that you will drive over it when you back up. You'll risk getting stranded upon it. Perhaps a solid rod with a few chain links at the end like a mace would be the wiser course.

Loving the way our kits are being adapted and used in conjunctions with their owners imaginations now, that's really what we had hoped for when we came up the with Scot-Bots and the wedge and spike are two of the the things that I actually had on the original drawings as add on suggestions.

So I made the cradle from scratch today out of some MDF for the base and some pine for the handles. I'm going to work a bit more on it on Tuesday to reinforce the MDF base. I also made the proper weapon for use as a mace on the end of my chain.

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This is awesome! Danny's is cool too (same kit)! Pushed RagNBone1 all over the place at Doncaster!

How neat is your mdf cutting lol!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daveimi

How neat is your mdf belt sanding lol!

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Using a panel saw to cut the MDF sheet was the only manual labour on this. Hegner saws and cordless drills huzzah!

Haha that's cool. I jigsaw everything so it comes out wonky.

Videos of the Featherweight Rumbles from Robots Live at the Museum of Flight, last Sunday.
Robots fighting: Tankslapper, PUG, Little Hitter, Clank 2, Onyx, Cicatrix, Mobot, and Hatchet 2.


POST BATTLE DAMAGE PICTURES


Post Battle One
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Post Battle Two
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Post Battle Three
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Post Battle Four
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The wedge plate got bent and two supports broke at the same part.
The padlock flew off almost immediately.
The spike was the only weapon to last to a second fight, where it promptly fell off after getting snapped close to the base.
Blew a fuse.
And a drill motor's casing sheared, causing the wires inside to wrap around it like spaghetti.


Despite all the blows from Battleaxe, Little Hitter, Hatchet 2 and Onyx, all the damage done to the top aluminium plate was superficial, the polycarb sheet underneath survived alomst unharmed, and the HDPE chassis escaped mostly unscathed.

Struth all those hammers in one fight? So are you gonna get a new drill and make some new weapons for it?

New weapons, I don't think so yet. Definitely going to improve them, however.

The spike will get some supports and the chain used for the flail will be bigger so I can attach the padlock without opening links.

As for the wedge I would need a thicker metal sheet and more wooden supports. I could get wood sourced and supports made in a day or so, but getting free metal from my school wouldn't be easy when it's thick stuff.

I have two spare drills ready, just need to remove the grub screws from the broken drill and put them into a new drill to engage the drive in it, then do a bit of soldering. Hopefully it shouldn't prove too difficult.

Putting the grub screws in is ok if you take your time. My battered wedge is the side of an old PC, hammered into shape on my kitchen step :) Thought I should show you a piccy!!

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w...psd396ac9b.jpg

I thought some of those marks looked familiar :p oh and just for the record that's Hatchet 1, Hatchet 2 will be built later this year and will have an axe at least double the power.

So I fixed up Tankslapper today, put a new motor in, and it's all running smoothly which is pretty good.


I took apart the old drill motor to see what I could salvage, and apart from the screws and a few of the gears I kept the actual motor unit. Is it any good or should I just throw it? If I keep it what would it be good for, saw, drum, spinning bar, etc?

Also, I still have got to remake the wedge and flail, which won't be too difficult hopefully. Going to buy a better chair with bigger links instead of using one from my garage. And I'm going to mount the spike differently so it'll be more secure and take a few more hits.

How did you get the logo on the top? Is it a sticker or painted on or whatnot
Nice robot btw

It's a vinyl sticker.

Ok thanks

Spike: Take 2.

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Who doesn't love a good old fashioned spike? It's quite long though so I'd be worried about it bending easily, might be worth shortening it slightly but other than that I like it.

Will it be static, or will it be a moving spike

This looks well :)

Hey again everyone, I need you guys' help and recommendations.

I'm thinking of designing a new featherweight and want it to be a ground up rebuild of my current basic 4WD wedge/rammer Tankslapper. However because the first version was just a Scot Bots kit, and the second version used the exact same internals as the first transplanted into it, I don't have any knowledge of how to actually make a robot WORK.

Still wanting to keep it simple, the new version would be another 4WD rammer but with the wedge on an axle this time (like a baby Original Sin) so I don't throw myself in at the deep end. What motors, speed controllers, batteries, etc would you recommend for a strong and speedy robot like that?

Also, what is the reprogramming/hacking that you need to do with speed controllers? That's something I definitely have no knowledge of but feel I should probably learn sooner than later if I want to be a builder.

Thanks in advance. :)
Cam.

Other sources are available for components, these are just links i found to show products, except Argos and botbitz.

The new Argos drill motors are quite good.
picked up some monday and are a great upgrade from the previous argos drill motors
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/6161400

Speed controller, people are steering towards several types: scorpians or sabertooth controllers
http://www.robotshop.com/uk/sabertoo...or-driver.html
https://www.amazon.com/Sabertooth-Du.../dp/B008OMQUXC

these speed controllers dont need programmin, just wiring up.

Botbitz reprogrammed Brushless ESC :
http://ranglebox.com/product/botbitz-30a-brushed-esc/
they are the UK distributor for these. The source code and reprogramming is released should you wish to do the programming yourself, will find links if needed.

wheels: im getting 4 types sent to me tuesday for testing, but are 80mm diameter, range from £2.80 to £6.70 depending on tyre type.

Batteries, drill batteries, LiPo, Gel, allsorts.

I searched other places in the forum I hadn't tried before and got some useful stuff there. Thanks a lot to Jamie and his speed controller guide I found.

4 x 18V motors, overvolted by a 24V/6S LiPo, controlled by 2 x 24V/85A ESCs.

Turnigy 3000mAh 6S 30C Lipo Pack
RB-775-18v Brushed Motor
BotBitz 85AMP Electronic Speed Control (v2)

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-...lipo-pack.html
http://ranglebox.com/product/775-18v-motor/
http://botbitz.com/product/botbitz-8...ed-control-v2/

Two more questions though.

Is the LiPo I picked safe to work with the ESCs or should I find another one with a lower mAh rating?
What sorts of gearbox would be recommended for the motors while Ranglebox is out of stock on the Saturn-16s?