Wooden Robot Class

[Anttazz]

Why Ti or Alu? Why not wood?

BOW has been using it for years and if it gets busted then you replace it with another 20p piece of wood rather than £££ for a chunk of Ti. Could use a small electronics box to house all the expensive bits and just have an agreement with other competitors that they don't destroy that bit if it gets torn out. I think the point in the class was that its cheap to repair and easy to destroy, therefore more interesting to watch.

[Max]

He is suggesting aluminium or titanium for his blade. Personally although I like the idea of wooden tools as weapons I don't think it should be mandatory, you don't want to over limit people and there aren't that many wood working tools that can be turned into weapons apart from blades, you could use a chisel as an axe but that won't. Be effective and won't be using the tool the same way.

[Anttazz]

Oops, sorry I got mixed up with what was being said on the last page of this thread about ti mounts and ali wedges and steel frames.

I must be tired

[Eventorizon]

How about everyone list all the wood working tools/techniques they can think of, regardless of how practical they might be as weapons, and then we can look at the ones that will give us the greatest visual spectacle (i.e. bits flying off...) and see how safe/unsafe they are...

Drill & Drill Bit
Jigsaw & Blades
Circular Saw & Blades
Chainsaw
Miller & Cutting Heads
Band saw
Hammer & Chisel
Sander (All types)
Steam Bending
Router (Miller Variant?)

Another possibility... we put a weight limit on the amount of metal allowed. Say 5% of the robot max, 680g. You still say no metal armour but then people can use that weight to fit metal bearings, shafts, a pulley and a disk. By the time you have got the mountings done you might only have 400g for the disc itself. If you ban titanium and case hardening of materials (before or after purchase; so Hardox is out) then you can limit the amount people can/want to spend as well.

[archie2000]

i like the band saw and steam bending.
bitza wood would be bitza dust

[Ellis]

Chain saw - wood chopping axe - wood chipper?!

[PJ-27]

We considered having a percentage of bot having to be wood, I think it was 50%? But concluded it as too difficult to enforce or check.

You can ban things like brushless tech and modern materials (titanium, Harris, etc.) out right, but that just quashes enthusiasm, Innovation and alienates some people.

Since there's no formal league we have a unique situation of if someone didn't want to fight you they won't, so don't bring a gun to a knite fight.

[Hoppy]

I think a wooden bot class is a great idea where all novices and experienced builders alike can have some fun and most importantly entertain the audiences with a lot of destruction!

My idea would be to construct a tough chassis out of ali, plastic or steel and to this mount a drivetrain using only drill type motors and house the R/C, ESC and batteries etc in a metal enclosure(s) affixed to the chassis for protection. The chassis could be designed and used to affix all timber components and armouring in such a way that damaged material can be easily removed from the chassis to enable a re-build. My view is that only specified soft wood types and MDF / Chipboard should be used, to exclude all 'hard' woods but allowing soft steel DIY type brackets as a metallic option to screws and nails for joining timber components.

The rules could stipulate that all bots should have an active weapon of some type, which could include 'spinners' if it can be established and agreed what constitutes an acceptable and safe build.

Hoppy

[Hoppy]

I have attached a photo showing my interpretation of PJ-27's idea of using a metal box to house the ESC, R/C receiver etc attached to the chassis. The box is galv steel and although shown angled for the photo, will be mounted upright to form a front bulkhead which will be secured top and bottom to a rear timber bulkhead (shown in the other photo). This box with its lid will form an enclosure to give some protection to the motor set. The rear timber bulkhead also forms a battery compartment. A base plate of 5mm polycarb will complete the chassis, to which will be fixed a ball transfer unit.

The frame is welded square section ali with two wheel protection uprights that will be used to fix the timber members forming the armouring and weapon mounts.

Hoppy

[PJ-27]

Looking good, glad to see some interest in the class.

In response to your earlier post it's the finer details that are making this class difficult to get off the ground. Everyone has their own interpretation of what the rules should be, and unless someone (most likely me) says the rules are this way and that's that, it will likely never take off. But at the same time stating the rules that way may put people off.

For instance, I initially said all armour and structure must be MDF (not other woods) but the idea of building on a metal chassis with easy to swap MDF armour panels is a good one.
I also have no issue with people using screws or nails to join the timber.

Then there's the issue of a lack of events to run the robots in. The UK Champs is the only constant Full-Combat event and everyone is pretty tied up with their competition robots in that time.

I'm hoping we'll get a chance to run some wooden robots soon and see what results we get.