Team Expat - Beetleweight Adventures

[Ellis]

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.