Pride Fighter / Team Hunt - Build Diaries

Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I've been here haha!

For those who may not remember me (if at all lol) my name is Matt Hunt, and a number of years ago I was one half of father-son team, Team Hunt.

We dropped off the robot combat train for a while due to life getting in the way (Since the last event we competed in, I've finished school & college, graduated University and I'm currently working an amazing job in my chosen industry). But now that things have 'calmed down' for us, we're starting to look into getting back into it all. I also have an amazing group of friends who enjoy this sport meaning extra hands to help where needs be!

So, on to what I've been building!

ANTWEIGHT: AntAcid

My first thing to start building upon my plan to return to robot combat was an Antweight. The basic idea at the moment is a two wheeled pusher with a wedge, but incorporating two 'horns' at the top to allow us to control our opponents better.

This was started by making a foamboard mock up of the robot.

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I was happy with the shaping and sizing, if it did need to be reduced a tad to ensure it fit in the four inch cube.
My thinking was to make it a very 'module' robot, meaning if something got damanged, like one of the armour panels then they could be easily replaced.
Next was to start actually building the body. I used 5mm acrylic in our (new) signature Neon Green.

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As much as I loved this and how cool I thought it looked, I did run into an issue.
It was well overweight.

This is as far as I currently have gotten with this build. My next step is to come up with a CAD for a new body and ask my boyfriend to 3D Print it for me (Did I fall in love with him for his 3d Printer??? ….Maybe. A little. It helped lol).

BEETLEWEIGHT: Unicorn: Alpha Fury

Along side the construction of the antweight, I also started dabbling with a beetleweight. I was excited to hear how much more common place this weight category had become since we last competed, especially with competitions like Bugglebots taking the spotlight.

My idea for the beetleweight was a good ol' reliable four wheel drive rambot, incorporating a front hinged wedge and adjustable horn to either lift, joust or grab the opponent(s).

And as I'm sure you can tell from my username, I'm proud to be one of the few LGBT robot builders out there, so naturally I wanted to make a robot based around a Unicorn lol. (But not so much sparkly, more like a Japan Anime Mecha Unicorn).

Just like with the AW, I started by coming up with a foamboard mock up to work out the sizing of my final armour pieces.

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My thinking behind using foam board to mock up these bots is taken from my training/education within Fashion Design. When creating a garment, you would make it out of a cheaper, easier to work with material to make sure you are happy with it before working on the final piece. You can also use those pieces as a master pattern to transfer to your final materials, which is the same as what I am doing here.

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Here is the final mock up, with an example of how I want the horn to work. I decided to change the wheels to something lower to give her a smaller ground clearance.

Next, I transferred these pieces to metal to create the base rolling chassis.

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The main frame is made from Aluminium (we still have a number of sheets knocking about from our old building days, so why not?) and the top and bottom panels are made from HDPE.

I was happy with how the robot was running, however the new wheels I got where not doing it for me. They felt too slidey and after a couple of test runs, the rubber treads where beginning to flake.

I ordered some new wheels and proceeded with construction

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The new wheels have a aluminium hub meaning they're much tougher for going against spinners. The wheel guards are also made from aluminium.
At this stage I have also begun planning out where and how to attach the weapon servo.

And that's as far as I have gotten with this one!

Building will be very intermittent due to myself now living an adult life (I don't like it and I'm still waiting for my refund). But hopefully you'll see us competing back at an event soon! :)

-Matt

Hi Matt, welcome back to the sport and a hello from another LGBT roboteer!

You builds look good though there is a better option than the Sabretooth for your AW in the form of a NanoTwo LT from NutsandBots.co.uk, might save you a few grams with the smaller circuit board. How much does it weigh a the moment?

I love the look of your BW. For the rear wheels, perhaps the same diameter but a harder rubber to permit better turning perhaps?

Oh wow another one! It's so nice to meet you! :)

Thank you! I have been looking at a new ESC for AntAcid as this current one is just an old one from our former competing days. The one from NutsandBots looks really good but it's showing as out of stock? Would you happen to know who to get in contact with for stock updates or something similar to use? (i've been looking at the Fingertech nano ESCs, are they any good when used in circuit?)

Thank you! I'm very proud of the beetle so far haha! And to be fair the rubber on the wheels I am currently using is as hard as the hub since it just sits over it. Although I do want to double up the wheels for both traction and aesthetic purposes. If not all then maybe just the back two.

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The one from NutsandBots looks really good but it's showing as out of stock? Would you happen to know who to get in contact with for stock updates or something similar to use?

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That would be Rory (rapidrory) or Alex (shakey) on here who would be able to help. Rory is the maker of the ESC, Alex is the person who runs the shop.

Thank you so much! I'll get in contact where needs be :)

I see why you'd want to double those wheels up, they are rather *ahem* slim, but as far as wheels go, they are very pretty. That's a good, solid looking beetle you got there! Loving the theme too!

I can highly recommend the NanoTwo for an ant build too, just finished wiring one of the new ones up yesterday.

I like the design of the beetle weight, I got into beetles this year after watching Bugglebots season 1 and it performed well! Also, there are more LGBT roboteers around these days :D If you ever make a featherweight Stevenage Robots Live is a good one to attend.

Cheers guys!!

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Originally Posted by Retroman

I see why you'd want to double those wheels up, they are rather *ahem* slim, but as far as wheels go, they are very pretty. That's a good, solid looking beetle you got there! Loving the theme too!

I can highly recommend the NanoTwo for an ant build too, just finished wiring one of the new ones up yesterday.

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Hahaha thanks! Yeah, lets be honest those wheels are like the Kate Moss of wheels lol. Could be beefier. I might actually have a chat with my boyfriend as to whether he could 3d print me some custom hubs and I'll see about some tyres. (So if anyone has some experience in making custom tyres, please feel free to throw some ideas and tips my way haha!)

I am really interested in the NanoTwo, they seem perfect! I've started with asking Alex for the mo.

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Originally Posted by COAESystems

I like the design of the beetle weight, I got into beetles this year after watching Bugglebots season 1 and it performed well! Also, there are more LGBT roboteers around these days :D If you ever make a featherweight Stevenage Robots Live is a good one to attend.

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Yeah Bugglebots got me really excited for the beetles aswell haha! Yeah it's good to see a real diversity within the robot combat community now adays - if I'm honest I had been worried about coming back for a long time given who I am, but the support I receive on Facebook from guys like Johnno, Dave Weston and Clive for my other life as a Drag artist has really given me the OK to come back :) And a feather will definitely be on the cards! It was the heaviest we built years ago so will be good to get back to them. Although after attending Extreme Robots Colchester and seeing bots like Neon, we both said we'll need to buff things up a bit from our old aluminium chassis hahaha!

In other news, a small yet big update.

Went down the garage yesterday after work to work on Unicorn:AF a bit, mainly focusing on the wedge.

This was a big step for me as I have NEVER worked with steel before, however I think for my first go at handling the stuff it went very well!

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Next step will be cutting out the braces + brackets for the wedge and welding them together (something I thankfully have a little bit of skill in! I love welding haha!) and getting the horn cut out. Tried figuring out how to get the servo mounted yesterday but to not a lot of luck. One idea I have is to come up with a CAD for a bracket for it and ask the boyf to print it for me, although I'm worried whether the 3d printed structure will be sturdy enough to withstand being used as part of a ramming spike? Only one way to find out haha!

3D Printing, from what I've heard, can be somewhat brittle depending on the material used. I know of a Beetleweight from Team Panoramic on here (the name of which escapes me at the moment) that entered a robot that was entirely 3D printed and it didn't fare too well.

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Originally Posted by PrideFighter

Could be beefier. I might actually have a chat with my boyfriend as to whether he could 3d print me some custom hubs and I'll see about some tyres. (So if anyone has some experience in making custom tyres, please feel free to throw some ideas and tips my way haha!)

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I swear I was reading about some fairly recently, now I'm home I'll see if I can find the topic again, bear with... EDIT** All I can find is in the Team Triforce build Diary, page 3, but it's not what I've seen before.

I'm thinking, T-shaped slots cut around the outer edge of the wheel and tyres cast on in moulds, but can't remember where I saw it. Sorry.

How about 259-B's build diary? I know Adam was experimenting with that.

Just had a look, and it looks like the one I saw, iirc there’s been a couple of people have tried, I remember some chat about some rubber in a tube and the different shore ratings available, £15 a tube sticks in my head for some reason...

I'm using rubber from http://www.mouldcraft.co.uk and it seems to be fairly easy to mould and get them onto the hub. Trick now is of course to make a decent hub and get it onto a motor. I'm waiting on a set of brushless to arrive, then going to look at getting them mounted up and tested.

Wow, thanks for your input, all!

I brought this up with the boyf and he said it could be possible. I managed to find some rubber filament which should work with his printer - just gotta order some and have a few try outs. Otherwise, the option of printing the hubs then filling with rubber is definitely an option!

As for the servo mount, it literally just came to my mind that our workshop has a milling machine. As well as some small-ish blocks of aluminium. I might have a brief go tonight at seeing whether that would be an option! :)

Hi all!

So, over the weekend I went round said boyfriends, and he was nice enough to begin the printing process for the new Antweight body.

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At the moment I'm working on a WIP version until I'm happy with the CAD, but so far so good!

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The motors & mounts fit like a glove! I am so happy with this basic shell so far. The wheels I am not 100% happy with, and I am currently looking at trying some of the thick Solarbotics wheel on it. I'll get them ordered soon enough.

Kieran has said he will print the top lid CAD for me while I am away on holiday, and from there I will get the final bits and pieces of the CAD finalisised, then printed in Neon Green!

With how light the new 3d printed body is (and hopefully with the amount of space I'll be saving with the new smaller ESC) I am researching some parts to make a small Magnetar-style drum spinner for it. Dave Weston has sent me some great part recommendations already so things are looking good so far!

Looking very neat, how light is it at the moment?

Wow, loads of great stuff in this thread! The beetle looks like it's coming along really well and look forward to seeing the ant finished.

Welcome back! :)

Thanks all! :)

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Originally Posted by Ocracoke

Looking very neat, how light is it at the moment?

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I'm not actually too sure... The scales we used to use for weighing these bots broke but we only just replaced them haha!
Hopefully I'll get a chance to go over such things this weekend. Although, we got an early Xmas present and treated ourselves to a 3D Printer, meaning the changes I wanna make will be quicker and more accessible for me to do.

Before I work too much more on AntAcid though I wanna order a mini brushless motor and an ESC to make a small drum spinner for it to give it more of a competitive edge. So stay tuned with that!

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Originally Posted by McMullet

Wow, loads of great stuff in this thread! The beetle looks like it's coming along really well and look forward to seeing the ant finished.

Welcome back! :)

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Cheers dude!

Speaking of the Beetle, not much in the way of an update but something I am still incredibly proud of:

So, I finally managed to get the weapon servo mounted after machining a mount for it out of a block of aluminium

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Not bad for the kid who used to make his antweight robots out of Plasticard and Duct tape, eh? :D

While I am incredibly happy with how Unicorn: Alpha Fury is coming along, there's still quite a few bits I wanna change/update.

I wanna re-cut the top lid as it just doesn't quite sit right as I'd want it to. I'll also need to see how I'm doing weight wise, and if needs be change the side wheel guards from aluminium to some sort of plastic.

Now that we have the 3D Printer, I also wanna do some custom wheels for U:AF. I've already developed some nice hubs and tires fitting in with the team-robots aesthetic, now to get them printed haha!

I also need to get the front wedge welded up and attached to the bot, however the great British weather keeps me from doing this!

So that's all about I have in the way of updates for the time being...

Although, I did receive these in the post yesterday,

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Middleweight, anyone? ;)

Oooohhh, the progress looks good. U:AF looks like it will look amazing in the arena. Just be careful of 3D printing the wheels. Lets Dance, which is a fully 3D printed robot, doesn't seem to handle hard shocks from spinners too well. If you are only having wheels, make spares I think.

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Middleweight, anyone? ;)

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Love to see it, reminds me I need to get a crack on with mine to get it ready for EXR Maidstone. Eeep.

Very neat servo mount! For beetles, 3D printed wheels can certainly work. Printed with the more common materials like PLA or ABS they'll support your weight, and take most things that aren't hits from spinners (though most wheels won't survive those). For hubs you'd want some stronger materials, either something strong like Nylon or even steel. You could also implement a square nut into your design so you have something metal to hold a grub screw in place on the motor. Alex Mordue did this for Saw Loser, his build diary is on github.

Another material could be TPU, which is far more flexible. Ben Hay from Team Panic uses it for his beetle AnnieRUOK, check out his YouTube channel if you want to know more.

Thanks all!

I must say I am very proud of that servo mount.... also for my first go on the Miller I must say it's not too bad haha!

My plan at this current stage for the wheels are PLA hubs, and then print the tires themselves in TPU, coated with a rubber-grip spray. I've modelled the wheels and will do a test print tonight (if I get time) to try them out. Watch this space!

At least with the wheels being 3D printed I can print off as many spares as needs be haha. At least with Unicorn aswell they are mostly concealed aside from the top and bottom, so side on attacks shouldnt affect them greatly. (Or at least that's my build plan lol).

Looking very good indeed! I like the design of the lightning bolt/horn, looks really cool and gives the whole machine a distinctive "theme" by itself.

What sort of mill did you use for the servo mount? That's a nice piece of work. :)