Team Jeopardy: Endeavour

[Andy]

Looks great Sam and whatever weapon it has, its bound to be decent with that good reliable drive

[SamO]

Update Time!!!!!

We went to Bluewater a few weeks ago with Endeavour... it didn't end well!!!!! Managed to survive an impressive 2 fights before one of the motors burnt out, killing the robot and ending our fun for the weekend Didn't bother going on the Sunday as we had no replacements. Took the motor apart and discovered the fan had melted (again) and then snapped off one of the brushes. The picture below should show it better:


So after this, Endeavour has had some serious TLC. The 14.4v 550's have been swapped out for some 18v 755's!:


To make this fit we had to file out some holes in the bulkhead and then set up some extra mounting to support the larger motor, nothing too major. The new motor pod looked like this (the one on the right):


Then when they were both fitted in the robot, it looked like this. You can see the new filter we are experimenting with to try and keep the motor cool. Its just the dust filter off a vacuum cleaner. Wouldn't be surprised if it began to melt but worth a shot I guess:


Lastly, the gyro. It has finally been successfully installed after quite a bit of hassle. Thanks to Dave Weston for selling it to us :


So that's Endeavour ready for Gloucester next weekend. Ohhh, and the build on the new bot will get underway soon, just waiting on the metal from Jon to get started.

Cheers

[shakesc]

Nice drill motors, what drills are you stripping down for those?

[SamO]

Makita's

[mrsam]

Do you by any chance remember the model of Makita that the 775's came from?

[SamO]

Update Time!!!!!

Just realised I haven't done an update since October! Quite a lot has happened since then, 2 events and slight modifications to some bits and bobs. Firstly the events:

Maidstone- Can't really remember that much about it to be honest, but definitely remember the motors working extremely well. The filter appeared to work well too, keeping the motors cool and "non-burnt out". The HDPE section I welded/melted into the top left hand panel after the championships this year got knocked one too many times and fell off. That's all been fixed again now though.

Gloucester- Great event to end the year on! Endeavour did its usual stuff. Chased Matilda around quite a bit, she got a bit annoyed though and ended up taking a rather large chunk out of our back panel. Just superficial but looks a bit nasty anyhow:



Also ended up coming out of the last fight with one side of the drive not working. Nothing to do with the motor, that's still in tip top condition! Just looks like the gearbox has just become slightly misaligned which we suspect is due to Major Damage driving on top of us and then back again, twisting the wheel and dislodging the gearbox! haven't had a proper look yet though, just needs stripping down and being put back together really. On a side note, we had a fire alarm go off at around 5 in the morning at the Premier Inn we were staying at, so that's always fun :P

Next up the "modifications". Ever since we've had the scoop, we've always wanted to put some gussets in to help to support the side sections and prevent them from bending should they be knocked. Now that we have the welder and all, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to practise my welding for the next FW as well as doing my first bit of useful welding (i.e. not just laying down beads etc). A trip to the welding supply store later to pick up some new tungsten's and we were ready to rock and roll! Cut out the triangles from the Reax sheet we picked up at Gloucester and they were quickly cleaned up along with the scoop using a flap disk on the angle grinder. Then they we're tacked in and welded up. Managed to flash my self for the first time which wasn't an experience I particularly enjoyed but hey ho... that's all part of the fun! This is the final product, not too bad. Not the prettiest welds by a long shot but definitely functional:





Any comments or advice on the above photos are welcome! Also picked up some stick rods whilst I was down at the supply store just to have a bit of an experiment with really. Lastly, got to come up with a new paint scheme for Endeavour as well, not really sure why I bother to be honest but looks good for 5 minutes at least.

Cheers for reading and I'm sure I'll see you all soon