Team Smoothie! Build Diary

[daveimi]

Haha that's cool I'm gonna order plastic over the next few weeks. Next on my list are wheels, and then many sheets of plastic! lol.

[daveimi]

Do you think I should have a go at a weapon? My design has come together really quick, and its turning out to be an awful lot easier to build than I thought it would be.

[razerdave]

If you can get a weapon in it, do it

[Max]

If i were you, collect the electronics for your rambot and screw all the motors etc. on a piece of wood and have a go at driving it round your kitchen then think about designing with a weapon once youve got to grips with how it all works.
A simple weapon is a thwackabot like saint or barnsley bot (look in build Dairys)

[jonny]

Thwackbot tip: don't use a metre long 2kg axe I did this in barnsley bot, a hell of alot of fun but very hard to control (but that was partially to do with rubbish esc's).

[daveimi]

Ok that's brill! I'll get everything together and have a drive. I fancy building a hammer but then would need a way to roll it back over if it got flipped. I'm gradually ordering everything I need and it sounds like a good idea building it on a plank of wood and taking it from there.

[psychostorm]

http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/invt/0283970

As mad as it sounds, bend the metal edges of this & it should roll over. It'll need an underside support to stop it deforming.

[daveimi]

I need to really rethink the shape of this, it doesn't have a hope in hell of damaging anything. I've been watching robot fights on youtube for an hour and a half and its getting a bit obsessive. The shape I sketched will get thrown about all over the place lol.

[daveimi]

Ok so we've had a major rethink and are going for a plate chassis and a shell that bolts on over the top. I've been getting on with getting things mounted to the base plate and getting it cut and filed to shape. Below you can see the string of pictures that show the motors and gearboxes, how they will sit, the shape of the base plate etc.









I need to say a HUGE thankyou to Gimsons who helped a lot. They even threw in some free bits when there was a delay with making the stuff which they didn't have to do. I'm really grateful to them for making this really painless.

[Ellis]

Looks like this is going to be a neat little machine! My only worry is the baseplate material you're showing in those pics. As the person who built a robot entirely out of (much thicker) chopping board I really must advise against the stuff. Search for NST vs Tormenta vs Inertia XL on YouTube, and you'll understand why.

If you don't intend to fight in spinner events then you may be okay but even a sharp landing from a flipper could crack your baseplate, or shatter it. Some chopping boards seem to work alright in robots (some Australian builders use them a lot) but in our experience they're to be avoided!

Most people get their plastic from www.directplastics.co.uk. HDPE and Nylon are common choices, the former for armour (and chassis in our case now) and the latter for chassis.