HardWired II

[Flag Captured]

Bit of a hypothetical design overhaul, I've decided to go completely modular for HardWired II - Practically everything on the machine will be bolted together so I can adapt and replace things where needs be in a decent enough time frame since I'm about as far from being an engineer as anyone can possibly be. Not going to go and change everything every battle - the chassis will stay the same, but this way I can have both Brushless and Brushed drive available in case the brushless system I've got planned packs in or is generally unreliable. It also means I have a bit more freedom with weaponry, I could take side skirts off to allow for more weight in the drum, for example. Again, it won't be a completely different machine every battle, chances are I'll leave it in either the drum or lifter setup and not mess too much with it, but just in the scenario that something packs in like the Brushless drive, it makes it easier to swap out for a more tried and tested drivetrain. Drills, basically. The idea was to have everything (or just the weapon and drive) in mounts not too dissimilar to the Gimsons GR02s and just bolted into the main chassis.

Because of this, too, I'm thinking of switching from Stainless steel construction to Aluminium since there'll be more surface area to make everything modular I'd guess, and I want it to weigh into the Featherweight category, not the Aircraft Carrier category.

Oh, also, forgot to mention too - part of this is to make it easier to get in the innards of the machine, and make it a bit more organised too, should anything get damaged, it's easier to take that one bit out and have a look at it rather than trying to work round everything whilst it's all still in the machine or whatever.

[daveimi]

Are you attending any events this year with your first robot?

[Flag Captured]

I'm not sure, most of HardWired I's being recycled into the new machine, which'll leave it with both substandard armour and substandard parts, so I don't think there's too much of a point to it. May take it down to some events for pure entertainment value though - the armour's only 2.5mm aluminium so it won't stand up to much...

[Flag Captured]

Quick question to anyone who may be reading this, come across a decent sounding supplier of aluminium, this one- http://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk/

They've got a grade of it in called '6082 T651', does anyone know if this'd be suitable for a Chassis at 12mm thick, and about half that for the baseplate?

[maddox10]

6082 is a good grade of ali. If you have the weight for that kind of thicknesses, it suitable for the purpose.

[Ellis]

Yes. 6082 T6 is a decent grade. How you attach it all to itself is as important as the material itself, though. A butt-joint construction isn't as strong as a finger-joint construction, which isn't as strong as a gusset-joint construction. A combination of these out of 12mm ali could make for a very rigid frame.

[Eventorizon]

Ellis is right. The Americans are notorious for 'End Tapping' aluminium bulkheads which is just a Butt Joint with some bolts. Fingering can be tricky but even with a hack saw and time you should be able to make a good quality joint. I like your thinking!

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I feel Galactus is a good example if you are looking at this type of construction. There are Pro's and cons to every construction method but Galactus is built like a brick no matter which way you slice it.

[Flag Captured]

That's good then, I'll get some of that ordered - thanks for the help!

I purposely designed HardWired with that type of thickness in mind, it's as flat as I can get it there abouts (60mm) so I can have thicker side armour then hopefully going to get something thinner but tougher, Hardox or similar, for the scoop/lifter

Ahh, Galactus does look very solidly built - thanks for the photo! Will definitely borrow a few ideas there I'll have a look at all the different join techniques too, I've very little engineering experience but I seem to recall how most of those go, so I may do a few prototypes with this left over wood I have /CAD it up before I go for the real thing!

Thanks for the help everyone!

[harry hills]

I'm using that grade of alu, wee bit thicker though. I'm finger jointing etc

[Flag Captured]

Ahh, that's good to hear then! I might use mostly finger jointing where I can and work from there, depending on what tools I have access too... maybe I'm being a tad ambitious to say the only equipment I have is a vice and an old hacksaw at the minute, but it's worth a go!