Trax (My First Combat Robot)

Hi,
I have been looking at the forums for some time now and have finaly started building my first featherwieght, it will be a tracked rambot.
I have already got one windscreen wiper motor (slow i know) and another should come this afternoon, I have ordered a sabertooth 2x25 ESC but it has not arrived yet, I will use unmodified 14.4V drill bateries, I will make a removable link from some anderson connectors and have already got a dx6i transmitter and a reciever.
I am going to a metal workers some time this week to make a cuboid aluminium angle frame and I will use 3mm aluminium checked plate as armour which I will bolt to the frame. I will make the tracks from 150mm wheels and bike tires and tension it with a threaded rod and 2 nuts.
I will post some CAD drawings later.
All opinions welcome,
Thanks,
Max

hello and welcolme to the fourm your robot sounds good so far (I love to see tracked robots) but I wouldnt sugest you use windscreen wiper moters because from my experence they go faster one way than the other
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVra9HiO7jc
Armour dillo used windscreen wiper moters (it was the slow one) and it was inifective

On this website are some basic Cad drawings of Trax:-
http://fightingrobotpics.webs.com/

Welcome to the forums mate :)

you may have to change the name, Trax was already taken, but im sure Shane should be OK with it

How does MaxTrax sound then ?

windscreen wiper=bad
drill batterys=bad
everything else=good
nice cad 8)

Hi again,
I can't help but notice but every roboteer seems to have something against windscreen wiper motors, why is this?

They are really quite ineffective in a modern featherweight. Slow and weak compared to a drill motor although they could be useful in building a lifting weapon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Max

How does MaxTrax sound then ?

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Quite a good name if you ask me :) Though if Shane is ok with it, you can still have Trax

Hi again,
I'm going to make the frame and armour tomorrow, unfortunatly the other wiper motor which arrived was completely different from the first so i am currently trying to find another one. Just i quick question, how many nicd/nimh drill battries do you think i'll need to power two wiper motors?

Well cheap drill batteries are typically 1000mah so two in parallel should do nicely.

use the drill motors :uhoh:

Hi again,
I spent all day yesterday working on the frame and armour of my robot and got most of the major welding done, the result of all this work was an industrial strengh box! Pictures of my box are on this website:
http://fightingrobotpics.webs.com/
It is very heavy but hopefully because i don't have a active weapon it will stay in the weight range. The speed controlers arrived yesterday but I still have to go to the post office to pick them up as there was £25 import tax to pay for it, and I am still waiting for the other wiper motor (apparently it is hard to get hold of the right one). I am coming to the rr event at the O2 tommorow so hope to see what some other robots are like. The main things I have left to do are make the tracks and tensioning mechanism and set up and fit all the electronics. By the way how to you guys connect your wires to the motors,battries,etc., do you just solder them or do you use dean/anderson connectors?
Thanks,
Max

deans are probably the way to go, i like to use tamiya plugs but they are not as good

Welcome to the forums, looks like a very nice design you've got there :)

Speaking as someone who has built tracked robots in the past, the layout does look a bit concerning to me I have to say - the robot looks very narrow in relation to the length of the tracks and I would personally have made it wider, so less of the track has to turn sideways when you're turning...something I read on the old Pain/Judge Mech site (which unfortunately seems to be down at the moment) is that the length of the robot should be, at most, no more than one and a half times the width, otherwise you're draining a lot of power just to turn and it'll be quite slow (and the tracks will be susceptible to coming off - how do you plan to make sure they stay on the drive wheels?)

Really the wider the robot is, the easier it will be to turn quickly while keeping the tracks on, and although I'd have to see it in action to be sure I can foresee one or two problems with the current dimensions I'm afraid. The very best of luck with it though, I love tracks and will be following this with interest as I'd love to do a tracked feather myself someday :)

Trax is long time gone. I do still have the tracks but i cant really see me building another. Your welcome to the name no worries.

Thanks for letting me use the name, just a quick update
I am back at school now and am waiting for a chance to finish off the welding, but I have just been told by the garage who are trying to get me another wiper motor that it may be better to get a electric window motor, I am sure I have heard of them being used before and was wondering which type people think will be better? And what are the differences between them?
Thanks
Max

well they are both useless and a bit out dated :proud:

if you want to go down that route then by all means do it. but, the £10 argos value drill motors would do a better job. beauty 2 (which has won the european championships, correct me if im wrong) uses the argos drill motors :)

around 80 to 90 percent of featherweights use drills

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mattsdragons

if you want to go down that route then by all means do it. but, the £10 argos value drill motors would do a better job. beauty 2 (which has won the european championships, correct me if im wrong) uses the argos drill motors :)

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it used to use drills but i beleive it now uses speed 900's

Hi again,
I know that drill motors seem attractive but I have already designed and started building my robot around wiper motors and I don't think that drill motors will have the power I want when coupled to 150mm wheels and tracks! I also think that they will be to fast for the tracks making them liable to coming off and will make it hard to control.
As always I do have another question for those in the know, how early do you have to register for roaming robots events? I only wonder because I would like to enter the event at guilford but it looks like i will only just have enough time to finish the robot before then, so can I register before finishing my robot but be in risk of not having it done or can I wait till the last minute to enter?

drill motors will happily move it. They have more power than wiper motors generally. Seriously drop the wipers and go for drills.

Generally it's ok to have a last minute submission but the best person to speak to is Jonno. Drop him a PM.

Just a quick update, my speed controller arrived today but have not had a chance to test it but I could not figure out how to connect it to my reciever, I see that on one side you plug in the battery and motor but don't know what the connectors on the other side are for (I guess they have something to do with the receiver). It is a sabertooth 2x25 so can someone please explain how to connect the reciever and what the other connectors are for?
Thanks
Max

you are correct, those are to hook it up to the receiver. You need to pick up a servo plug cable (can clip one off a servo if you have it handy)

Otherwise

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/500mm-Servo-Lead- ... 1e62efff76

Reading the instructions,

http://www.dimensionengineering.com/dat ... kStart.pdf

Seperate the wiring of the servo cable. Red goes into the 5v, black into the 0v and the white one into the S1 terminal. Plug it into receiver and off you go

But what goes in S2?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Max

But what goes in S2?

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Signal 2 the second white wire that sends information from another channel on the RX.

You do want to move & steer, don't you?

Yes I do want steering as well, so do I have to plug two wires (one from each servo clip) into the 5v and 0v

Just been to see my design technology teacher and he said that two wiper motors will draw 60 amps which he said drill batteries cannot suppy, is he right? If he is what kind of batteries can supply that whilst not weighing more than 2 ( at a push two and a half) drill batteries ? Also if it draws 60amps in total then will a sabertooth 2x25 be able to handle it?

No chance will they draw 60 amps, not unless you're significantly over-volting them! I'd /still/ go along with what seemingly everyone is saying, use drill motors if you can: you'll find there's far more support, information and spares available for them

So do you have to plug two wires into 5v and 0v terminals on a sabertooth speed controller?

Yes and then the signal wire of each of the two channels from the reciever to s1 and s2