Team Expat - Beetleweight Adventures

**Ellis** · 7th September 2013, 21:42

Am giving up on the spinner beetle until further notice. Further notice meaning until we own a mini lathe. Yesterday and today I tried everything possible to shape the weapon pulley and the piece that goes on the opposing side of the weapon correctly, and both are way off centre, as I have come to expect from the cheap pillar drill. Turns out pillar drills can't do everything.

So that's a bit of a bummer, but I have bought a gyro for Gonzales, so assuming it actually fits, that should be running nicely for Deeside. Whilst in the UK we're going to look at a particular lathe, size 7x14, and if we like it/can afford it, we may just get it and be done.

So that's that. In the long run, the machine(s) will benefit hugely. I could possible have had something running but it'd be a bit rubbish at best, and I don't want to make something only to have it kill itself/and or take it apart a week later.

**Ellis** · 10th September 2013, 18:15

Have cut the scoop and bolted it on. Nearing the limit of what I can do here, the rest of the parts are either being kindly put forward by Harry or are waiting for me in the UK, so will get done just ahead of the event.

Picture spam:

The bolts holding the scoop will be changed for better ones, and I may bury the heads in some 6mm hdpe.

**harry hills** · 10th September 2013, 18:34

Looks naff. Start again.

**swanaldo** · 10th September 2013, 18:43

lol

**harry hills** · 18th September 2013, 15:45

Can anyone help with a scorpion xl problem?
In testing, a small jolt caused one side of the robot to stop working, at first we thought it was just a loose joint. There was a lose joint, that was fixed but one side remained broken. It seems to give just enough to give a little trickle of power to an LED but nothing like as bright as it should be. No motor movement. Both motors are fine and functional, and the left hand side is fine. The red/green directional LED's on the scorpion still work.
Checked battery, signal; tx/rx and the wiring.

Any thoughts?
Cheers. Harry/Ellis

Edit: yes, tried recalibrating, made no difference...

**RogueTwoRobots** · 18th September 2013, 16:41

Only useful thing I can suggest is recalibration if you've not already done it. Or have a close look at the PCB tracks and all connections to see if there's any damage or swarf on the board causing a short circuit. Can't think of much else I'm afraid.

**Ellis** · 30th September 2013, 21:00

Forgot to update this!

I arrived at Harry's and we got busy breathing life into Gonzales. He did all of the wiring, as I've never really done much wiring myself and figured he'd do a much better job, which he did. We did several tests in his shed and managed to get the gyro working. Phwoar that felt good, it drove very nicely. He put forward his Scorp XL, a BEC, HDPE for a base, polycarb for the top, and I got to eat lots of bacon between times. Pretty swell guy.

Anyway, on the evening before I was due to leave, one half of the scorpion died, as the post above shows. Never got it going again, currently have new fets on their way to replace one that appears dodgy.

Thankfully, Mr. McHarg sacrificed his XL to get the thing running, and it worked perfectly. Thanks again man!

Only got a chance to "fight" 3 times at Deeside. Videos:

There were some issues, as the videos show. First was simply that guts started coming out the top, that was due to there not being enough space for all of the wiring inside. Simple fix of tightening the top a little more. Second failure was the pinion on one motor went walkies. Roughing up the shaft and some decent glue solved that ahead of the third video, where it seemed to perform without a problem.

Other problems: wiring needs to be more organised, motors got very hot, needs more LEDs.

Overall: very happy. I'm surprised it lasted. I eventually want to remake the wheels, or at least hold the tyres on better, as they began to work off the hub once or twice. Also want to put the remaining 50g into a thicker ti scoop, I can't see this one surviving a fight against 180 with its weapon blaring!

Gonzales 2 thoughts already happening gah.

**brandon_nichols** · 30th September 2013, 22:40

Well, it's still good to see some UK beetles in action. Good luck with them!

**Ellis** · 29th July 2014, 11:52

With the Stevenage event in September now definitely featuring beetles, I have some work to do. Gonzales still works fine - I forget if I posted this on the forum:

^wish YT urls wouldn't automatically embed

- but it was built in a week or so and tapped HDPE just doesn't sit well anymore. I might put in a smaller battery to save enough weight for a strip of steel on the wedge and for some inserts/more barrel nuts. Would be nice to make new wheels out of a single bit of nylon too.

I'm also going to try and build something new between now and then. I made the first part a few weeks ago; a 12mm dead shaft:

The disc I got earlier in this thread has now gone to a new home. I designed a disc for Harry's undercutter a month or two ago, but the price (thanks to Guilherme) was so good I wanted one too lol. It (they) arrived this morning.

It's 4mm hardox and 180mm diameter, which after feeling in real life I now think the weapon support materials I have won't be strong enough but it'll have to do, can't get anything else in time - only needs to last one event anyway.

The first pretendos, also giving a sense of scale:

Battery and motor are the smallest I can get away with (I think) so I can give the disc some proper support later down the line.

Got 3 machines to repair and upgrade and a 4th to actually build, aaaaaa.

Cheers.