Team Expat - Beetleweight Adventures

**Ellis** · 1st September 2014, 11:28

Minus a link hole in the top and a few bits and bobs, Newton is physically finished. I'll get some nicer pics when it's not ridiculously bright outside (contrast goes way up and everything is orange).

^little plate that shields the outrunner. This wasn't what I intended to make but accurately folding thin aluminium as planned wasn't a goer, so this does the job. The point of this is also to try and stop the flexible 2mm hdpe top/bottom from spreading too much with overflowing internals.

Electronics will happen over the next few days, as it's now a race to get T2, Gonzales and Rango as finished as can be. Leave on Saturday!

**Niels - Team K.a.L.M.** · 1st September 2014, 12:52

that is one sweet looking machine

**RogueTwoRobots** · 1st September 2014, 19:46

Nice work Ellis! Showing that you don't need CNC/milling etc to make awesome looking robots

(I'll omit lathes in that list and just gloss over the fact you did use one :P)

All you need to do is spin the disc up then spin the robot anti-clockwise for some epic hits!

**Niels - Team K.a.L.M.** · 1st September 2014, 21:23

Please, do not give him any more ideas...

**Mega Masher** · 2nd September 2014, 20:51

Wow ellis, that's gonna be one dangerous bot

**Ellis** · 5th September 2014, 23:54

Cheers guys!

Well, time is up. Tools are down, at least until many of them get shoved in the motorhome. Today was my last day of several frantic days trying to get the bots ready. Both feathers are in fairly good shape and as of about 12:30 tonight both beetles are essentially done.

Managed to squeeze the bigger LiPo into Newton and it's been driving. No time to video or properly test but it's pretty positive.

Yesterday and today Gonzales has been the focus. I surprised myself with a single long workshop session and made new wheels for it. The old wheels were extremely loose on the shafts, the tread would creep and foul on the chassis, and they were heavy. The new ones are lighter and run smoothly.

The ring gears are much thinner and are held in by three m5 setscrews. The main wheel body is a single piece of nylon; I had to grind a "trepanning cutter" to do this which worked a treat. The flats on the ring gears are angled (is there a name for this? Dovetail flats?) so the grubs stop rotation as well as hold them in.

The tread is the same random k-nex tyre I used before. The originals have lasted really well. Might have to get some more of these...

Unlike before the tread is actually held on with three recessed screws.

The weight the new wheels and smaller battery freed up gave me enough to make a wedge stiffener. This is more of the same 2.5mm steel as Newton's weapon supports.

^as of tonight. Crappy phone pics, yay. The mess in the workshop, as you can see, is intense, lol. I have severely run out of buttonhead m4 bolts so there are several wrong/missing but you get the idea. HDPE top for Gonzo because it saves a few grams... I suspect it's right on the edge. Will have to complete these two on the road, particularly Gonzales which currently has no insides. :P

Been hard but in a good way. See you in a week gents.

**Ellis** · 14th September 2014, 22:17

Great weekend. Thanks again to Dave Weston for managing to get the beetle arena in place against the odds.

Newton and Gonzales had a fair time. Gonzo was a little lackluster throughout, the adjustability I built into the drive shafts allowed the wheels to move relative to the motor pinions (slotted drive components, oldest failure point in the book for combat robots?), so it would lose mesh occasionally. That and subtle differences (both elec and mech) left and right meant it didn't drive very straight. Bit disappointing but it can be fixed.

Newton had a great time. In the first full-weapon test (against a media player) I learned it has very nice control with the weapon at full whack and that the loosish belt (which I never remade shorter) is prone to popping off. The rest, after the drive gearboxes were retightened with threadlock, seems to work well. Lots of big wall-wall bangs etc. The weapon motor is cogging a bit more now than it should - perhaps it's slightly under load as I'm sure the frame has settled a bit after the hits - but a few tweaks and some programming changes and it should be fine. Overall very very pleased.

Will get some video up in the next few days. Cheers again all for a great event.