HardWired II

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I'll have a look in Halfords next time I'm there with regards tires, probably going to try and make something from the bike tread I have already, but it's not too different from the stuff I already have that has shredded on the wheels. If worst comes to absolute worst, there's always Banebots - they're expensive but the amount of people that use them has got to speak volumes for their effectiveness. I'm sure I could adapt those into my existing setup!

I won't bin the drivetrain either, I'll still have it but there are potential huge benefits to brushless if I can work it right. They have more power, are smaller and are lighter than the equivalent brushed motors, only downside being that there's the delay and torque curves... I could try and use some sensored motors, but I don't think there's anything like the NTMs with a Trackstar ESC for sensorless technology, and if there is it's beyond my price range. If the brushless drive works nicely too, I'm definitely using it in HardWired III. If not, there's always brushed alternatives. The basic idea of HardWired III will be similar to Rango - rambot with a disc- so high powered drive will be pretty much a must.

In other news, after a bit of a chat with a friend, I'm going to try and prep HardWired I for a championship too, since that's surprisingly still somewhat intact. Would just want a new chassis made (out of those leftover bits of HDPE I have) along with some new batteries/ESCs and we'll be sorted. It's already got it's lifter actuators in there, but I'm tempted to convert it to an LP flipper if I can make a dirt cheap setup using fire extinguishers and servos/valves... Again, I'm going to try and add armour to make it completely OTT as I think is becoming pretty standard for the HardWired machines (the old version of HardWired II ended up with like 60mm HDPE or something crazy) but the only difference is that it'll have 4 wheels... it's actually being adapted for a friend of mine who's getting into combat robotics and wants to go to a few events, so I'm going to try and make it a reliable brick that's pretty easy to drive. It's just a drill box at the very heart of it, really, which is ideal. I'm not going to be doing all of this on my own, but I'll be doing a sizeable chunk of it most likely, inbetween upgrades to HWII and building HWIII. Shouldn't be too difficult though, I already have most of the dimensions ready made, just needs everything cutting out from the existing templates and bolting together, should take a week or two if I can get a good run at it.

So, plenty to do this coming year!

EDIT: I've just realised it's like update central round here at the minute haha, this'll be the last of the proposed updates posts for a while, had no idea I'd done this many of them...

[daveimi]

When it's mentioned that Matt wants more power like Satanix, does Matt not have the same drive train (Speed 900) made by the same person (Mario) on a similar ratio (6:1 ish?) as Satanix? Meaning if he could sort the grip and voltage out he'd be on par with Satanix? Also meaning he wouldn't have to fork out for a brand new drive train? Just seems daft spending money when there is already a drive train there I'd kill for.

[mrsam]

Satanix runs genuine speed 900's on a 6:1 ratio with a 5s lipo i believe? ( Dave?), whereas Hardwired runs Johnson 850 motors ( basically the same as speed 900's but wound differently so they're faster but have less torque) on a 4:1 ratio with a 4s lipo and much smaller wheels. Basically in the current machine Matt can't fit bigger wheels or a lower reduction with the current motors.

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HardWired II has Johnson 51mms, 4.5:1, 4s
Satanix has Speed 900s, 6:1 and 5s...


The Johnsons are basically raw Speed 900s, before Graupner adjusts them for the torque side of things if I recall correctly from what Mario said, theyre basically the same but faster with less torque. In theory, I'd guess it works out similar but in practice I can't seem to put the power down. I've got a few tests in mind though first, one of which being weight redistribution... I think that making the wheels bigger and slowing them down should improve my pushability and lead to fewer shredded wheels, but we'll see I guess. I will say that strapping Harry's bar (Massacre) to the top of HardWired did noticably improve grip, was tempted to run it in the gladiator, but it wasn't secure enough for the lid with 720 and Binky in there, would have just pulled my top plate off, and in an arena with Hatchet, Little Hitter and No Toy? That's a lipo puncture waiting to happen!

The Brushless setup is kind of an experiment too, the setup so far is great, but I just feel I can get a bit more out of the chassis with brushless. If worst comes to worst and it doesn't work, I have two motors for spinners so it's not really shelling out money for nothing if you get me? I'll still use everything whether it's for the drive or not, but it's worth a shot! That, and Speed 900 size motors are getting tougher to come across, using the brushless stuff means I'll have plenty of spares at much more affordable prices when the inevitable happens. Case in point, I broke one of my 3 motors at the champs - I don't have a spare now, and I'm not entirely sure where I'll just be able to pick up a new spare at a decent price, if that was an NTM 42-38, I'd just hop on Hobbyking, buy a new one for 20 quid and the job's a goodun!

[mrsam]

Speed 900 sized motors are virtually impossible to get hold of unless you buy the Caldercraft 900's which just don't have the power of a true speed 900. I think brushless drive could be a viable thing for the future, Mr Mangle proved it can be done successfully and for a cheapish, powerful drive system with easily obtainable spares that can fit into tight spaces i don't see a comparison, i'm personally looking forward to seeing what Matt and Mario come up with.

[daveimi]

Yeah I didn’t mean to come across negative, sorry if I did. I have Asperger’s and it shows at times with me getting the wrong end of the stick.

I just meant if you were worried about money you have a nice drivetrain and 850’s are available and some batteries and weight over the drive would push it in the floor.

I’ve spent hours pouring over the photo’s of the big pushers with their shell’s missing as I’m not a fan of spinners. The one thing I notice is all the battery weight etc. centred over the drive for grip.

Brushless drive sounds nice; you should have a look at that! Also sounds a lot cheaper than I’d realised.

[harry hills]

This is how you weight distribution.

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Cheers Sam! Mario's definitely done a great job with it, so if we can get brushless to work I think it just may bump up it's competitiveness, plus it'd be nice to get in on the brushless drive quite early on, show off what it can do haha

No worries at all Dave! No negativity taken from that at all I do get where you're coming from, but it's literally impossible to get any more weight over the drive in HardWired II anyway, I'll post a photo of it's innards sometime - the motors are touching the top plate and back panel and are back to back because of how small the machine is so I literally can't get any more weight over them. Having brushless, depending on the motor, could mean I'll be able to redistribute the weight a bit more by putting a block of steel or something between the motors. It'll probably be something a bit better than that, most likely a battery or something but you get the picture!

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And Haz, that will remain my favourite ever modification to a robot. Shame 720 was in that gladiatorfight, wanted to see it in action haha!

[mrsam]

Echo what Matt said i didn't think you came across as negative at all so no worries , in a machine as small as Hardwired it's difficult to distribute the weight any more as everything's already on top of everything else and the 900 sized motors take up most of the robot. With brushless motors especially outrunners you can get the same performance figures you would get from a speed 900 in a much smaller package and if Matt downsized the battery capacity slightly (5000mah is way ott if you ask me) then he could potentially have room for bigger wheels and possibly even some magnets to give more speed and more weight over the wheels.