Ceri Jenkins support thread

Right, after many failed attempts and a slight two/three year hiatus, I am determined to build and fight a featherweight. So much so I have recently bought new NIMH batteries.

My current stock take is

• Futaba Skysport 6EXA 40Mhz FM radio TX+RX with 3 spare crystals and a tuned aerial.[/*:m:2xw0n1ie]
• An IBC speedo - Well it was high tech at the time![/*:m:2xw0n1ie]
• A large 24V actuator.[/*:m:2xw0n1ie]
• 2*24V gold motors attached to a 3 sided polycarbonate and angle aluminium structure.[/*:m:2xw0n1ie]
• A wooden wedge with steel metal blade. It is roughly the size of a rucksack. Back end lost to time - it could be finished with a bit of woodwork.[/*:m:2xw0n1ie]
• A drive train, formerly belonging to Hornet I believe, with 12V gold motors chain driving blue wheels. It could fit in the wedge but not in polycarbonate shell.[/*:m:2xw0n1ie]
• A cuddly toy![/*:m:2xw0n1ie]
• An Omni wheel.[/*:m:2xw0n1ie]
• 2 removable links[/*:m:2xw0n1ie]

All along with the new acquisition of 10 4300mAh NIMH sub C battery cells, some Sub C copper bars, some heat shrink wrap thingy, a handful of Anderson power poles and a yellow power light.

So things I may need to know.
How to fasten wood for combat?
How to make a battery pack?
How to assemble and solder a power pole?

Regardless of topic, all suggestions welcome. Give up, however, will not be advice taken.

So thats who I sold those gold motor assemblies to! Lol I couldn't remember who they went to.

Are you planning on entering spinner events or non spinner events would be the next logical question? Spinner events will need a far more substantial chassis but are a lot more fun.

You could use the 24v actuator to make a lifter (4 bar or single hinged) or a crusher.

well block of wood is probably one of the most known fw wooden robots, we use bolts to bolt the sides to the base plate then screw the top on

base is 25mm thick
top is 25mm thick
walls are 50mm thick

it offers good enough protection and is easy to machine etc.

still got the damage on it from hornet :D

also i would really recommend a crusher for the linear actuator, again i have built one and it does take alot of attempts and working things out but its all good

when soldering cells dont heat them up to much

the power pole just put solder in the tube part of the metal piece then heat it up and push the wire in
then when this is COLD push into the anderson plastic bit get it the right way round otherwise you won't get it in

hope this helps
alex

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by typhoon_driver

So thats who I sold those gold motor assemblies to! Lol I couldn't remember who they went to.

---

Not only do I have the drive assembly, Gary - I still have the shoebox you sent them to me in! They're still there. I've only dismantled it once and taken your crimp off the end in order to use power poles.

And as I'm a decent man, if you can mechanically restore the rest of hornet to its 2006 glory. I'll send them back to you!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by typhoon_driver

Are you planning on entering spinner events or non spinner events would be the next logical question? Spinner events will need a far more substantial chassis but are a lot more fun.

---

Other way round - whether I can enter spinner events would depend on how strong I can make the chassis. Would like to but my masonry is poor.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by typhoon_driver

You could use the 24v actuator to make a lifter (4 bar or single hinged) or a crusher.

---

Not when it looks like this:
http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/7609/b71b.th.jpg
The design's a little awkward with shape like that. Perhaps if I dismantled it for rearrangement?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by psycho_fling

well block of wood is probably one of the most known fw wooden robots, we use bolts to bolt the sides to the base plate then screw the top on

base is 25mm thick
top is 25mm thick
walls are 50mm thick

it offers good enough protection and is easy to machine etc.

still got the damage on it from hornet :D

---

I'm guessing the top is plywood - but what are your sides made out of? It looks to me like a different wood. The wooden chassis I have is 1mm Ply top - was to be updated for thicker - and 10/20mm pine for the sides - the wedge of which is irreplaceable to me as I have no band saw. It'll probably be used as test chassis from now on.

Also I've seen Crumple Zone. Excellent work with that robot Alex but it'll be at least a year of serious slog before I build anything that strong.

nah all ply wood works well very thick

The wheel units were from hornet 1, my first attempt at a featherweight without the help of team typhoon. Funnily enough I just recently picked up the old hardox chassis I used from Jamie (it went on to be the first incarnation of drumroll).

If you aren't going to use the units for anything then I will gladly take them back. I wouldn't mind being able to reconstruct hornet 1 with a few upgrades and enter it in a comp :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by typhoon_driver

The wheel units were from hornet 1, my first attempt at a featherweight without the help of team typhoon. Funnily enough I just recently picked up the old hardox chassis I used from Jamie (it went on to be the first incarnation of drumroll).

If you aren't going to use the units for anything then I will gladly take them back. I wouldn't mind being able to reconstruct hornet 1 with a few upgrades and enter it in a comp :)

---

There's little I can use them for, Gary. I bought them for a spinner design I had in mind at the time that my construction methods don't allow for. As that got ditched, all other designs required more push than I believed the units to be capable of. and now the weight limit's gone up too. Best thing I can use them for now is as an example of how to build my own beefier ones.

Which brings me onto my next dicing question - How on earth am I to build a drive train for the 24V motors? I can't even affix anything to the motor shaft. I've no access to a pillar drill and no tapping equipment. I can't weld (which believe me is something I wish to do) and haven't a welder.

Oh well, challenges not problems I suppose.

Friction drive?

Sell the 24V golds and buy a pair of £7 drill motors out of B&Q? :)

Ok, so I bought Kaiser off Jamie and have been adapting it for my own intents & purposes. Having installed the IBC, both channels 1 and 2 are now resulting in forward motion. Any one perchance know why?

Could you have both the mixing in the controller and in the transmitter turned on?

make sure you have the 2 channels in the alle and ele slots of your reciver that way you will have them on one stick control so you know it should move then

Thanks for help but I found the problem in the end whilst packing up. In my haste, I'd plugged in the Aux connector not one of the directional controls . Oh well just two problem now. One, the flip correct input is active low. Why they chose low over high I have no idea. Two, the length and depth of the speed controller forces me to ditch the SLAs permanently for the space saving NiMH. For which I have no charger. challenges not problems.

Well for the UK champs I'm sure someone can lend you a charger for them. Put an ad in the wanted section for a charger and you may get someone going to the champs who has a spare.

I think from 2011 only 2.4ghz is allowed on h/w robots and I think it covers all weights aswell
so you will have to consider a conversion kit or replacement aswell :(

i have a suitable charger for those batteries would be able to charger a pack in under an hour easy

pm or post here if interested mate

alex

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by psycho_fling

i have a suitable charger for those batteries would be able to charger a pack in under an hour easy

pm or post here if interested mate

alex

---

Thanks for the offer Alex & I may still take you up on it.

TBH I'm slightly more worried about the up keep of the batteries. And forming the pack from the cells listed on page 1 in 18 days.Irony is I had a finished machine and am now on a race to the finish.

Also does anyone have sidewinder I could borrow for a few space measurements?Preferably at the FW champs.

Dave, you used to have IBC in Hells Angel, how did you over-ride the flip input?I'm fearful of soldering it.

I've never had an IBC in Hell's Angel :P I've used 2 Electronize before and I'm currently using a Rick Mass modified Scorpion XXL. Dunno where the IBC bit comes from :P If you want info on the IBC I'd have a poke around on the Robowars forums, they pretty much all use IBC's

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by razerdave

I've never had an IBC in Hell's Angel :P I've used 2 Electronize before and I'm currently using a Rick Mass modified Scorpion XXL. Dunno where the IBC bit comes from :P If you want info on the IBC I'd have a poke around on the Robowars forums, they pretty much all use IBC's

---

Funny you should mention Dave- the info came from the team hell website technical page under Hell's angels circuit diagram. I couldn't borrow that XXL for space measurements, could I?

Oh yeah! I got that wiring diagram from Woody (Onslaught) when I first started, because I beleive he uses one. I have the altered diagram with 2 electronize. I should change that diagram to read Scorpion XXL, because its pretty much the same set up.

I will gladly bring the XXL along, just wondering, you planning on using those Gold motor drive units ?

if you aren't using them i might consider buying them back, quite nice little units if i remember right, some of my first work :P

great. Now it's not working. All the lights on but no one at home. Not even the singing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by psychostorm

great. Now it's not working. All the lights on but no one at home. Not even the singing.

---

curiouser and curiouser. Apparently, the Aux connector renders the speed controller useless.

Its possibly being used as an inadverted kill switch

so you using those gold motor units or not?!

So I'm at the other side of uk championship and the HDPE bulkheads are well smashed. Can anyone recommend me a good plastic? Bearing in mind, one panel will have to support the lifting forks.

nylon. Better for structural support than HDPE however not as good at absorbing impacts. Nylon for structure, HDPE for armour :)

Would be nice but previous shock damage would suggest otherwise. I have no photo to hand but one of the bulkheads has literally had it's side ripped off by one of the supporting bolts holding the wedge triangles in place.

The white bulkheads are polypropylene as it was the most material I had when rebuilding Kaizer, and it was a bit stronger than the previous HDPE bulkheads. But it is prone to cracking/shattering upon large impacts (just look at Carcinus) so that would explain why the supporting bolt would have ripped it off.

It's also a matter of how things are mounted; bolt placement and distance from edges etc can alter the levels of localised stresses, leaving some areas more prone to cracking/shattering than others. I just put bolts in where I thought to be the best areas.

If you were to replace that with Nylon (especially if you go to 20mm Nylon like the wedge triangles - there's definitely enough weight for it) you wouldn't suffer that problem to the same degree. I'm not saying that it would eradicate the problem completely but the likelihood of a repeat scenario would be greatly reduced.

Out of interest, did any of the wedge triangles take hits? How did they hold up if they did?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by k_c_r

If you were to replace that with Nylon (especially if you go to 20mm Nylon like the wedge triangles - there's definitely enough weight for it) you wouldn't suffer that problem to the same degree. I'm not saying that it would eradicate the problem completely but the likelihood of a repeat scenario would be greatly reduced.

Out of interest, did any of the wedge triangles take hits? How did they hold up if they did?

---

Multiple impacts and they've all survived with only their front edges smashed from the lower bolt on. By comparison, The bolts holding them there were bent beyond retrieve. The broken poly pro bulkhead still has it's wedge and bolt intact!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by k_c_r

If you were to replace that with Nylon (especially if you go to 20mm Nylon like the wedge triangles - there's definitely enough weight for it) you wouldn't suffer that problem to the same degree. I'm not saying that it would eradicate the problem completely but the likelihood of a repeat scenario would be greatly reduced.

Out of interest, did any of the wedge triangles take hits? How did they hold up if they did?

---

Multiple impacts and they've all survived with only their front edges smashed from the lower bolt on. By comparison, The bolts holding them there were bent beyond retrieve. The broken poly pro bulkhead still has it's wedge and bolt intact!

Well that's been a while. Since I apparently can't find any thicker blades for my existing jigsaw, could anybody recommend me an inexpensive saw to cut my nylon & HDPE with?

Dunno why I'm bothering myself. I'm behind only clarkson as the world's most impractical man.

if you want to go really cheap just get a hand wood saw from b&q for £4 :proud:

Yep, wood tools work just as well with HDPE, sometimes better. theres a brief guide about the stuff on my website (www.teamorr.com)

Jack

I use this type of saw for HDPE works better than Jigsaws

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... 418716.htm

Just spent the day working on Kaizer. I am now slightly the wiser. Here's what I learnt:

No where on the box of a flat pack workbench does it mention self assembly.
No flat pack anything has the correct number of nuts & bolts.
If the instructions say it's marked front & back, they shall not only be mark free - they shall be identical in every respect.

20 mm nylon is a right b*st*rd to cut through with a hand saw.
I can't cut a straight line to save my life.

And on that bombshell, good night!

Join me next week where I drill a dirty great big hole in the palms of my hands!

Just plugged everything in & the only sign of life is the main light. Suggestions?

Panic? :lol:

get a multimeter out and check that the voltage is getting where it needs to go (speed controllers etc)

check the radio gear is working using a servo

Basically check each sub system within the robot in a systematic way to work out whats wrong

Right tried the multimeter - no reading but the zaps I got from the speed controllers suggest it isn't a supply problem.

Tried the BEC - no reading. Tried the RX - no reading. Tried to power the RX by charged battery & still nothing.

Radio kit buggered - not what I need.