Team Kaizen Build Diary

[Ocracoke]

EXR Newcastle 2023
Going to a new locaton is normally a plesant experience - Newcastle was no different despite the seemingly endless rain! Pulled up and loaded out fairly quickly and with the rebuilt Jibril 2.1 beta (will explain later on) on the bench, it was quite literally a case of charging batteries, tech check and done.

I was very grateful to find out that Audaciious, Parasite and Bandit were in attenance, otherwise might have been a bit awkward being the only MW there. I am still not totally sold on the MW's being a pre show match but it is at least with an audience in there so I am sort of OK with it.

Jibril vs Audacious vs Parasite
The first fight was filled with a touch of trepidation. Parasite was a vertical spinner and if truth being told, I've not faced a spinner in the Middleweight class since Gaston in EXR Gloucester 2018! Either way, the rebuilt axe mechanism on Jibril worked wonderfully and finally got some decent hits in. The Scythe-Axe is now darn fast. I think I need to look at the VEX controller to see if there is some kind of brake on the controller, there was some interesting delays between the controller and the action.

What was certain is that neither Audacious or Parasite were in good shape after the fight. The former stripped a thread in the gearbox and didn't make it back into the arena for the rest of the weekend. Parasite's weapon motor shaft snapped (we aren't sure if the Scythe-Axe caused it) and was having trouble moving. Jibril won the fight but the fuse had blown, first time I had ever done that. Other than that, just needed batteries charging and the side arms swapping around as they were bent.

Jibril vs Bandit
Once again, the fuse blew - I seriously underestimated the power that the axe was using, as well as how wide the gaps were n the arena floor, I got stuck in one and trying to get free I am sure blew the fuse.

Bandit came off much worse though. A couple of i-did-not-plan-it hits on the lid caused enough shiock to go through the lid and into the motor, completely shattering two of the magnets in the motor. That retired Bandit for the weekend.

Jibril vs Parasite
Before going back to the event, I picked up a 100A fuse to replace the 80A fuse I was using. That 80A fuse had been around since I think Kaizen! Anyway, Parasite was the only other MW competitor left and without a weapon so I felt OK about going for it. The fight went pretty well... right up until the link wire popped out because of my dodgy soldering. I did manage to land several chunky hits though which have most definiely left their mark. Had I made it the 3 minutes, I am postive I would have won by Judges Decision but it is the way things go.

I also had Jibril weighed - 41.80kg.

Overall, I had a decent time at the event. With the axe now working properly, its a vicious weapon and now I feel like a legitamte threat in the arena. There is the question of self righting which I would like to find the answer to (it's probably no but we'll see) but the big thing to address now is the fantastically rubbish wiring.

So over August, I will replace all the wiring in the robot with properly soldered connections, a better set of links (EC5s I think) and using bus bars where pissible to minimise the wiring mess.

Pictures and video to come soon.

The "2.1 beta" marker was because I wanted to change the side arms before the event to aid in self righting but didn't get a chance to. I still have the original CAD files so I can modify them and have them recut, hopefully in 10mm Hardox to match the back (I have the weight for it) as well as a new axe maybe? :P We'll see.