It is indeed, everything is a learning experience so i'll consider it a mistake that had to be made. My wiring For Hatchet 2 will be much neater than it was this year, no more power distribution bolts *shudder* and a wiring loom that i can keep track of.
Hatchet Lives!, well sort of. I've gone to great trouble and expense (around 15 quid) to make a simple servo switch controller so it at least drives now although i've only tested it on an 8.4v Nimh pack thus far. Once i get paid i'll get a 5s lipo and charger, retread the wheels and i'll get a video of it driving and using the axe, should be pretty nasty on the new voltage.
So the curse of Hatchet has struck again today, this time the rx has gone. It wouldn't come on earlier so i tried to rebind, nothing and the power light wasn't even coming on. I took the cover off to see if anything had blown and all of the components were very hot, i'm guessing it's just died but i'm not sure why.
It could be that some tiny conductive crud has shorted out a component - the spacing between surface mount IC pins is so small that a piece of metal the size of a grain of sand will do it. What I now do is coat the receiver PCB with 5 minute epoxy to insulate and shock protect all the components. Just spread a thin layer on with a matchstick and avoid the connectors. I haven't had a receiver die in 5 years since trying this.
So i've been looking into alternatives to Hdpe for the inner structure of Hatchet 2 and i came across polypropylene sheet, it costs roughly the same as Hdpe but from what i gather is slightly stiffer though not quite as stiff as Nylon. Seems like it could be a good middle ground between the two but is there any reason not to use it?
Yes, it's a pain in the arse to cut and is quite brittle in relation to the other widely-used bot plastics. An impact from a spinner could cause bulkheads/uprights to crack/shatter.
About 25 seconds in:
Carcinus had already been beaten up by Boner so it was a bit decrepit but you can see bits of polypro breaking off and flying across the arena from the NST impact. Not ideal really. I'd advise Nylon 6 if you want something sturdier but it's not so great if you're on a budget. But yeah, avoid polypro if you can :P
Right polypropylene it isn't then, thanks for the very graphic example Jamie
How does UMHW compare in price to HDPE and Nylon? It has excellent impact strength (better than cast Nylon) and almost the tensile strength of nylon. Over here, UMHW is less than half the price of nylon, so we tend to use it for everything. If you want extra stiffness, just add aluminium angle at strategic points.
UMHW on Direct Plastics is twice as much as Hdpe and a few pounds more than Nylon, I'll have a look around
Quick update, hopefully Alex doesn't mind me posting this, When i sold Hatchet me and Alex agreed that i would eventually buy it back and he would get it fixed up and running in the meantime. I have to say that he has done a fantastic job and it looks amazing, the big news is that since i've now started a much better paying job Hatchet will be coming back to me within the next couple of months. For those of you that are interested here is a pic of Hatchet as it currently stands
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