Deathly Hallows - FW - Alligrater

[Deathly Hallows]

Today is not a good day

Alligrater was fully assembled and being tested when the chain came off yet again! Repeated hard testing on the bench seems not to be the same as driving it on the pavers.

It doesn't stop there however, as the self righting mechanism also fails to deliver. The motor was rated at 17.5N @12V which I imagined would lift the 13.6kg but it's no where near the power needed I failed to consider the lever point reducing the effectiveness. Even though I am running 18V.

Finally the weight (though this was not critical for the event) was 14.12kg so 500g over.

I won't be going to Grantham. Living in Scotland it's too far for what is most likely to be 5 seconds of combat with this build.

That said I am not giving up. But it's back to the drawing board.

Here are pictures of the current design:

Front view ramp open to vertical
Aluminium C bar
IMG_20180621_174514.jpg
The polycarbonate sheet has a little give to allow it to scrape the floor
Behind that is some grade 5 titanium
The idea was to be able to replace the polycarbonate or have different designs depending on opponent
IMG_20180621_174526.jpg
At the back you see the alive light
Had to drill the holes for weight saving
The kill switch/jumper is an anti-spark XT90
IMG_20180621_174601.jpg
Wedge fully open at I estimate more than 120° from the rest position

Trying to cheer myself up. Looking for positives. If I go quiet next few weeks it's not me quitting but I have three work trips and then a summer holiday so could be August before I can be very active again