Team Gas Diary's

[Gaseraki]

10mm

Why the!? Same way I mounted the gear on Trojan 2. Wasnt a great robot but never had a problem with that part. Just everything else

[PJ-27]

Because most motor shafts are 3-6mm, and to put a 4mm bolt THROUGH that wouldn't leave much (if any) shaft left. But a 10mm shaft explains it all.

[blazerbotics]

Looking good Marco, nice to see you back building. I could start calling the robot 'Dave' again but seeing as I have a house robot called Goliath, I'm just asking for trouble!

[Gaseraki]

Cheers Alan, good to hear from you.
Dont know how Dave was handed over from Kenny to me but he can have it back :P

Saw the house robot. Quite monsterous! Does he do most of the unloading now at events?

[Gaseraki]

Not the most productive weekend for robot building as I had to do lots of wedding tasks.
Thought there really isn't too much left to do till I make a few more decisions

Most of the week I have been creating the transmission. All the wheels are constructed with the attached gears and sprockets and I decided to test them out.

Job which had to be done was replace the motor mount. Currently its a weight reduced 6mm nylon plate which is bending horribly. So I replaced it with 14mm non weight reduced piece (because thats the way I roll)
2013-06-08 20.28.50.jpg

Fine now and the first stage reduction is smooth and perfect.

Once placed in I realised that I was literally just 1 or 2 mm of from attaching the perfect length chain. I managed to get those in by drilling the bearing holes a bit closer together and the chain fit fine after.
While testing the wheels I am really happy with the transmission. However some of the wheels have some travel. Not up and down (which would mean that the robot bounces around when driving) but side to side (could rub against the chassis). Only by a couple of MM but perfectionist mode is active.
Not sure how this happened but probably in the process of creating and attaching them to sprockets. So I went about finalising a side. Managed to fix one wheel which had too much travel and put spacers in the wheels. Also cut down excess wheel shaft. Side runs very well and even though there is a tiny bit of travel. It would be hard to notice.
2013-06-10 01.15.38.jpg

Few notes.
Condensed version; motor mount done, half of drive finalised, other half 85% finished just needs finalising, wheel spaces, cut shafts, ect.
Guildford is now out of the question. I can now focus on getting the robot running with an active weapon for newport.
Its heavier than expected. Had a quick weight check and its looking at 9.5kg minus weapon, armour, batteries and speedo. I think I can shave some weight off that. The 2 60tooth spur gears is a big chunk of steel which I can shave some weight from easy. Also a massive shaft on the unfinished side which I haven't cut down yet.
Checked how much weight I would save by replacing the shafts but thats about 100 grams.


Notes on future projects.
Was in my parents loft and gathering a list of items I have for a possible heavyweight
two bosch 400s
Wotty evo (or what ever the 36volt version is called)
Tons of nicad cells and one 28.8 3.3 amp pack made. What an odd size battery pack that I decided to make.
two hydraulic rams
Lots of transmission (4 20 tooth half inch sprockets, 4 8 tooth sprockets, 2 60tooth spur gears, 2 22 tooth spur gears) Miles of chain


Missing
2 bosch 400s which I think I gave away or handed to some one. Any one remember?
Hydraulic pump. Either at the parents in law house or left in my last house unaware (which would make me cry....)
Gaint piece of 5mm hardox (sure its at the parents house)
Checking my notes I state that I had some bosch 750s but I dont remember buying them so I was probably lying or the MIB have visited me.

So many parts. Would be a crime if I just let it sit in a box for another 4 years.
My dream heavyweight. Some kind of growler/draven hybrid
2013-06-10 12.37.35.jpg

[daveimi]

Really digging this featherweight!!! Build a heavy!!

[Gaseraki]

Been really bad on a daily update basis so just going to combine it all into a single post


11-06-2013
Hey, I found trojan 2
Well the box containing all the parts for it anyway. I was mainly looking for useful things like, cradle, link, possibly armour panels.
2013-06-10 22.02.50.jpg
You can see the changes of size between them both. Trojan 3 is longer but it comes back in like a U shape. Yep, Not too proud of these.
2013-06-10 21.59.54.jpg
All the handy old bits. Cradle will definitely be used. Not sure about the rest.
2013-06-10 22.18.14.jpg


After a bit of work on trojan I have decided that the travel on half of the wheels is just too bad and I will need to most likely remake them or even pick up some new wheels. Time isnt an issue

Good news
My wotty, pro peak and power supply still works. Not sure why it wouldn't but you never know. However my 24v 3700 nimh back has died. It can hold about half an amp after a few cycle charges. I have had experience with bad battery packs before and have forced amps through them ultimately destroying them.

12-06-2013
Only a few hours to spare but I knew I had to fix the travel on the wheels. One wheel on each side was fine so I transferred them onto one now finished side.
I dismantled the remaining wheels and worked on re drilling and fixing them and amazingly managed to completely fix one wheel.
The other was beyond repair and I had to use a spare bane bot wheel which I haven't used. Re drilled and reattached the spur gear and also completely fixed. Funny enough the new finished side is far better then the old finished side
Also I managed to get the ni-mh pack to charge properly after a few cycles.
Here is the test with a wotty and the 24 volt pack

Sadly all the youtube enhancments will take a few hours to process so excuse the shakey, bad colour and sideways video till it sorts it self out

[Gaseraki]

So I received my new li-po packs and 85a bot bitz esc. I have spent most of the week planning the internals and weapon.
2013-06-14 00.37.04.jpg
First I thought testing was well in order. Was sort of lucky as I tested it with a 20cell ni mh pack (when it says only 18cell)
But it runs fine and didnt even get warm. I recorded it incase of massive fireworks!




FInally settled on a drill fitted in the rear with a shaft going to the front driving a 20/1 worm gear.

I will construct a controller with limit switches to control the travel of the lifting prongs.
The weapon motor, esc’s and li-po packs are goign to be fitted quite close together. So challenge was to mount these away from each other as well as the robot armour. I also wanted the battery bay to be quickly accessible to charge batteries.
cadded holder.JPG


So week was spent designing and constructing this rear compartment.

Lipo pack fits well. Not snug so will need a bit of padding
ESC fit really well
The HDPE housing weights 200 grams which I am happy with.
2013-06-16 04.10.25.jpg2013-06-16 04.11.39.jpg2013-06-16 04.10.45.jpg

weapon motor is not fitted yet but mainly due to still needing a 6mm shaft and built attachments.


Weighed it and currently at 11kg with everything but weapon prongs and shaft (wont be much weight) and armour panels
2013-06-17 00.39.07.jpg


Its heavy but can shave some weight from the wheels as the 2 giant spur gears haven't had any weight reduction.
Armour looks to be about 3mm ali top and bottom and 3mm steel/hardox front and sides welded for extra strength
Its not indestructible but the chassie is very well braced. so I should consider that after my 3mm ali is 6mm nylon and some parts after that 8mm hdpe and if thats punctured, most of the components are 10-20 mm away from the armour
I plan to also make some additional spare panels to replace them as most of the robot snaps together.

Next jobs is to order the last bits.
Sheet steel.
worm gears
electronics for the weapon controller

Heavyweight may also start a lot sooner than planned which I don't mind
Plan to finish 2 personal projects after this feather then will work on an antweight.

[marto]

I would suggest you drop a few cells. Although your 20 Cell pack is 24V nominal (which is fine) they can often peak at > 30V when coming off the charger. As the spec'd voltage of the FETs is 30V in the 85As I would strongly recommend you keep the voltage of any pack you connect to it < 25V.

Steve

[Gaseraki]

Cheers Steve.

Forgot to say but I wont be using the 24 volt pack in this robot. I will be using two 3cell lipos which is recomended.
I am lucky as the 20 cell pack was freshly charged and isnt stable so was probably very close to 30 volts.