Team Shock's Robots

[teamshock]

Been a productive day today as I now have 2 robots ready for the UK Champs- still got 2 to finish

Spent this morning reassembling Shockwave's gearbox and making some supports for the shafts to prevent them falling out like they did at Whitwick.

Then gave it a quick run around to check it was all working- battery was a bit flat but it still worked pretty well.



Then I spent the rest of the day putting Inertia XL back together with the new disc mech- result is a much faster top speed- 5000rpm up from 3000 which it ran at last year.



Still drives very nicely even with the disc at full speed so it should be fun on friday

Tomorrows job is to wire up Lambda and Aftershock and then I'm done!

[psychostorm]

It looks like a cute little bunny rabbit
With a spinning bar of death lodged in the middle of its skull :twisted:

Thanks a bunch, Jamie. Now I'm stuck with this in my head:

[teamshock]

Finished Lambda today- still one or two small bugs that I would like to fix before friday but its working

[teamshock]

Time for a post UK Champs update.

We had a good run with all of our robots- here is how they did

Lambda Delta:

Had a few issues with self inflicted damage but should be a fairly easy fix and Kat already has plenty of ideas for upgrades next year.

Aftershock 4:

Survived really well against Flow after bouncing back into the arena everything still works but a diode could do with replacing on the Scorpion XL and some spikes welding on to aid with self righting. Should be back and working for Burgess Hill.

Shockwave 2:

Had fun in the whiteboards with the drive working very well and out pushing almost everything. When upside down the pneumatics kept on freezing which affected the self righting but apart from that all was ok and ready for the next one.

Inertia XL:

The upgrades to the disc worked really well as it went through Hardox, titanium and Aluminium without much trouble at all- the bigger forces kept on working the pulleys loose of the speed 900's so something to work on for next year. We also had issues with the Scorpion XL but it turns out the diode has gone as on Aftershock so it is a very simple fix.

Some upgrades for next year include:
Adding a Lipo to save some weight
Using the extra weight for 2 more speed 900's for the drive to give the same setup as Shockwave
Getting some steel pulleys to weld onto the shafts of the disc motors to prevent them coming loose again.

Also forgot to say thanks to Dave Moulds for getting Inertia re-welded after NST hit it and to Andy for the use of Wedgie's speed controller for the Annihilator.

Next job is to get Maelstrom ready for Burgess Hill and to finally get Soundwave built

[archie2000]

wait when you say 2 extra speed 900s will that make 4?
:shock:

[harry hills]

Using the extra weight for 2 more speed 900's for the drive to give the same setup as Shockwave

2+2=4 so yes there will be 4 in the whole robot.

[jonny]

2 for weapon, 2 for drive

[maddox10]

@650 grams each , its 2.6 kg of motor in there. Impressive.

[teamshock]

Should be able to fit it all in as with the batteries swapped from the massive Ni-Mh pack (from Maelstrom) to the LiPo and removing the old drive setup we should have about 2.5-3kg to put the new system in. Each of Shockwaves drive pods weighs 1.3kg so it should be possible

[teamshock]

Since we now have a bit of a break until the next event here is a bit of a review on how things have gone for Team Shock lately.

Maelstrom has had a run of good form over the last few events now after a slow start to the year. All the little changes and improvements came together at the UK Champs and gave us one of our most impressive displays throwing a couple of robots OOTA including our most impressive flip yet on Eruption. We think this is due to the new batteries firing the valves better which has greatly improved the flipper. This year also saw us fit new bosches for the drive which have worked brilliantly as it now drives with plenty of speed and pushing power which it lacked before.

We won't be competing with the feathers much at the main shows now although we will probably be bringing Heatwave along for Orla to drive as she did really well at Gloucester. We will still be competing the the FW champs with Inertia XL though.

Next year will (finally) see the debut of our new heavyweight. As of today we will have the body panels as they have been waterjet cut from Hardox for us. This will speed up the build and I hope to start welding the chassis together when I am home this weekend. Photos to follow soon.......