Haha, Idea!

Hi All.
Im thinking about a middleweight, and just wondering wether the idea i have in mind is okay to do and will be cheep (Under £2000 anyway!)
My idea is to get a granny scooter off of eBay, use the motors ect. and that will be my electronics, of course ill have to get the radio gear ect.
For armour, im not sure, we have some aluminum (What were using on Hunter) but not that much, so im not sure what we should use, if it comes to it, id be happy to use wood! (Cheep!)
Im not planning on a weapon, maybe just a wedge.
Can i develop on this?
Thanks
Matt

For a fun machine, get an old wheelchair and use the motors and gearboxes, easey to mount and usually cheap.

Okay, then take to rest of the chair to a scrap heap?

If you get one that runs with a joystick then you can just mount two servos to run the joystick and thats your steering done. Ive never done it but some teams back in series 4 did and it worked well for them. Plywood makes great armour. Its cheap, easy to work and you probably have the tools already.

Might need help with the servo steering.

sorry to jump on your post but im sure my question will help you also. :wink:
can you get good speed from wheelchair motors, i have seen some on ebay that are 24volts, would you need to run these on 36 for more speed, or can i modify them easily. Or would they be good enough for a first competition robot as they are.

Depending on which ones they are, you can modify the gearboxes and get a bit more speed, or overvolt them.Be good for a first bot, easy to mount come with wheels, not too competitive, good to learn on, get experience of driving heavyweights.

Are the motors in Leveller from a wheelchair Dave?

Glad theres more people getting into MW. cant wait to build mine. i have 2 wheelchair motors but there big and heavy and only 150w. im going to look for something else.

Hi James

The motors in Leveller are from Roger Plant, on modded S type gearboxes. Think the may be Littons.

A middleweight is something Id like to try but not got the funds or tools/space for it at the moment. Got a couple of nice Bosch 400s needing used though so I cant think of a better way

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=4DxgA2Qd0dwhttp://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=4DxgA2Qd0dw

This is me and Dave Lawries heavy on wheel chair drive. Has around the same speed as ewe2 on 24volts. Was thinking about over volting to 36 for that extra kick. But thats up to Dave Lawrie as he has something special planned for the motors.
Weighed in at 99.6kg but thats because it had stupidly sized batteries. SLA weighed around 25kg each 12volt pack.

marco, is that standard wheel chair motors.

Andy, yes they are. Bog standard wheelchair motors and wheels are still a good way to start with middle and heavyweights. Specially on 36V.

To be honest, I dunno. It was freaking huge wheel chair and so are the motors.

http://www.usatechguide.org/itemreview.php?itemid=569http://www.usatechguide.org/itemreview.php?itemid=569

I have seen some other Wheel chair motors and the ones in monolith were a lot bigger.

What I can say is monolith ran a lot quicker without the wheel chair contollers. Invest in a wotty or use servos and relays (what I used). The chassie of the wheel chair was also awesome. Really good steel construction.

http://img46.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00152sa9.jpghttp://img46.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00152sa9.jpg
http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc00151lv0.jpghttp://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?i...sc00151lv0.jpg

The motors are pretty standard, just some are more Watts (power) than others. In holland 150W is pretty standard, up to 400W for the very powerful chairs.

when i first started i walked into a dissability shop and asked if they had any old ones.. turns out they had a garage full of old wheel chairs they didnt really want, bought a few for £40 each.

Ok guys.
I decided to post here instead of make a new thread.
Im starting to draw up a plan for a middleweight.
Does anyone know where i can get some good, strong, cheap motors for it?
Plus, im planning a flipper, so any rams and stuff would be good aswell.
Once i have everything, ill start drawing up the plan (Once i know the size of everything)
Thanks Guys.

Hi Matt,

You started off thinking about wheelchair motors. Stay with it. You dont just get motors, you get gearsboxes and wheels as well. They can drive a middleweight very well.

Ok, any pre-disembled motors on the shelves?

Theres some on ebay.
some that need some work here
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wheel-chair-motors-and-gearbox-for-robot-or-go-kart_W0QQitemZ280290410077QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_He alth_Beauty_Mobility_Disability_Medical_ET?hash=it em280290410077&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3 A1301|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wheel-chair-mo...go-kart_W0QQit emZ280290410077QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Health_Beauty _Mobility_Disability_Medical_E T?hash=item280290410077&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkp arms=72%3A1301|66%3A2|65%3A12| 39%3A1|240%3A1318

or

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ELECTRIC-MOTORS-24V-WHEELCHAIR-ROBOT-MADE-BY-BY-EMD_W0QQitemZ130272114690QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Hea lth_Beauty_Mobility_Disability_Medical_ET?hash=ite m130272114690&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A 1301|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ELECTRIC-MOTOR...-BY-EMD_W0QQit emZ130272114690QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Health_Beauty _Mobility_Disability_Medical_E T?hash=item130272114690&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkp arms=72%3A1301|66%3A2|65%3A12| 39%3A1|240%3A1318

or get a complete chair. then you have other bits you can use from it such as wheels.
BTW what sort of flipper you going for?

(Message edited by xtreme on December 06, 2008)

Well, since MWs get up-classed to HW, one that can lift at least 80kg.
Are there any others that have a much longer lasting bidding time?

I think Tom meant an electric lifter/flipper or a pneumatic one (possibly)

If youre not experienced with pneumatics I suggest you go with electric

I have used pnumatics before

Then you are probably better off with them for a more powerful flipper I would say, whether you go for low or high pressure they will be better than an electric lifter

What about rams?
My garage cant really make these rams, however you make them!

Matt, if you opt for low pressure, ive got a few rams kicking about suitable for a middleweight that i can sell you cheap.

Well, how much psi will i need for it to lift at least 80kg, and how much for the ram? (Size of them, weight, ect.)

So what middleweights are going to be out this year?

Well, 2009 i hope for mine to be out.

what u got sorted for you mw so far?

Well, i aksed my dad for those WC motors you suggested for me for christmas, so i dont know if i have them.
Nothings done yet.
I hope to work on it after our first event with Hunter.