Boring Brick

**mrsam** · 13th April 2014, 22:42

Yeah it's the old scoop you made, Matt's dad brought it to the event and it fit Hatchet perfectly

**mrsam** · 13th April 2014, 22:47

Cheers Matt, the axe is powerful but the actual mechanism is flawed and just not up to it. Hardwired performed absolutely brilliantly and will be one to watch for the future, especially with the upgrades you have planned. Hopefully we can get a 1v1 going at some point when both machines are finished just make sure you have more than 2mm stainless on top because \\hatchet 2's axe will just bend it like foil i imagine.

Edit: also let me know if you do want rid of those Botbitz at any point as i'll definitely have them off you

**Flag Captured** · 13th April 2014, 23:55

The axe itself is great, all I'd say is thicker chain, more powerful (or more protected) motor and it'll tear it up like nobody's business. I think it'll be a tough nut to crack too if you can get those upgrades you mentioned in there too, I think the parts you said to leave are fine as they are, just the worry is the older parts... Definitely too, I'll let you know! Not sure if I'm selling them yet, kind of erring on the side of yes but I'll let you know. I've got another machine to build using drills so it might be ideal to use these!

**overkill** · 14th April 2014, 06:24

Just upgrading to Lipos should get that axe swinging even harder - definitely upgrade the chain at the same time.

**maddox10** · 14th April 2014, 06:44

After rereading the large post.

Is it an option to use alineas next time? Makes it a tad more easy to read.

On the ali baseplate. 5mm ali = 12mm HDPE in weight. 5 mm Ali bends, 10mm HDPE flexes.

Upgrade to LiPo, easy weight, saves money, and is the new standard. LiFePo4 is fine too, and has the advantage of being allowed to be recharged in the robot.

The wheels are acting up? How do they act up? The only thing I can see is lack of grip by the compound of the tyre used.
That seems also the issue with the wheels of Hardwired. I'm going to look into that, as several other machines use the same tyre.

The scoop. It was ment to be active, that's why there are axles in there. Making it heavier than needed. Nothing an anglegrinder and a welder can't solve tough. For a passive scoop you want one solid back/mounting plate.

More axes... if I find the time...

**overkill** · 14th April 2014, 07:01

The threads on the wheel hubs looked pretty stripped to me; I saw the wheels just spinning on the gearbox shafts at times.

Perhaps rather than a 5mm baseplate, some vertical ali plates or L sections would be better - it seemed that the bot was flexing after impacts and then the frame was scraping on the floor.

If you use threaded inserts (a good idea IMHO), make them as deep as possible to prevent pull-out.

**maddox10** · 14th April 2014, 07:20

Same base of hubs as the ones used in Defector. Shouldn't slip on the shafts.
Maybe adding a setscrew grabbing the shaft could help.

**Flag Captured** · 14th April 2014, 08:23

Originally Posted by maddox10

The wheels are acting up? How do they act up? The only thing I can see is lack of grip by the compound of the tyre used.
That seems also the issue with the wheels of Hardwired. I'm going to look into that, as several other machines use the same tyre.

The wheels appeared to not quite have enough grip on the floor, but I think that might have been a clearance issue, they did slip on the shafts after some damage though, I have a feeling there's a locking screw gone loose on it somewhere, but I didn't have too close a look at the wheels...

I think the biggest problem with HardWired's wheels is purely that they spun so fast that there was no way they could get grip. I put it in he arena with Massacre's bar taped above the wheels and run it on low speed, with a lower charge on the battery and it seems to solve some of the problems. The biggest thing I found was wear though, mine wore out after only 2/3 fights, but that's most likely because of the fast spinning.

Hatchets problems appeared to stem from the baseplate issue and it beaching itself I think but I could be wrong!

**mrsam** · 14th April 2014, 09:05

The wheels would screw onto the shaft tight as usual but then as soon as the robot was in the arena they would just spin on the shaft and not tighten up, not really sure why but it may be because the grub screws went early on and i didn't have spares. In terms of grip what had actually happened was that the tread had worn down so much that the screws holding it on were proud above the rubber hence no grip, but i only discovered this once i got it back for a proper strip down. As for the base material i'm still undecided, the 10mm Hdpe baseplate that was made at the event has held up brilliantly but i still think 10mm for a baseplate is too thick.

Edit: also just noticed your bit about the axe motor Matt, the current motor is more than powerful enough, if you think about it it's a 24v motor which i was running at 16.8v and it still had enough power to swing Hatchet's axe enough to break the chain on the axe several times. It definitely needs to be protected though and that is something that ill address in the next one, just some Hdpe bent around it with a heat gun would probably be adequate.