Thread: Build Log - Bread Dead Redemption (FW) - First Build.

So it has been a few weeks, but the work has not stopped! I hope everyone had a great time at Robodojo on Sunday, I definitely wished I was there.

After a relaxing holiday in Center Parcs last week, I found myself with 4 days off to do nothing but work on the robot. Perhaps you may want to put the kettle on, this could be a long one, we have a lot to catch up!

Pre-Holiday

A few bits sorted before I went away. I bought some 12v Argos drills and ordered some motor mounts from RoboteerNat. Also, having seen that some events require a "Team Shirt", I got on Spreadshirt and started designing a jacket. I'm really pleased with how it turned out :

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Saturday

Plan for Saturday was to strip down and modify the drill motors and see if everything fits on the HDPE baseplate I measured out. Unfortunately this was scuppered by the drill chuck, with the reverse thread screws not budging no matter how much I tried. I wasn't too happy with the situation. After sending the below photo to my Dad, he offered to lend me his impact driver.

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Determined not to let a day be ruined by a single screw, I grabbed the cutting table and a hacksaw and set to work cutting the HDPE panels outside, as the weather was lovely. Due to a lack of space in the garage, we still hadn't mounted the bandsaw. After about an hour, my Mum's boyfriend Roger came to see how I was getting on.
"Isn't it a bit of a waste doing this by hand if you have a bandsaw?" he questions. "Do you really think we will find enough space in there to mount a bandsaw before the start of December?" I reply, gesturing broadly to the bulging garage.

What resulted from that conversation is probably one of the most absurd and potentially dangerous contraptions that Rog and I have ever rigged up, much to the horror of my Mum:

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Portable Bandsaw! With the bandsaw securely mounted to the cutting table, it made short work of the rest of the panels. Time to see if my CAD designs and measurements were accurate!

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Oh, heck.

Not so much slightly out, more like miles away. With the light fading, I had two options. Either be sensible, pack up and go inside, or make a rough estimate of how much to cut it further and just go for it. Naturally, I went for option 2.

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RESULT! A tad rough around the edges, but it all fits! Pleased with my progress, I packed up for the day.


Sunday

Sunday progress delayed due to collecting the impact driver, which made short work of the screws in the drill chucks. One of the 3 drills I had dismantled no problem. The other two were a different story. Unscrewing the clutch changer on both drills released the spring, pushing the chuck up and releasing the ball bearings underneath, jamming them both.

I grabbed a hacksaw and started slicing away at one of them to try and free the ball bearings. The result was no different, any twists to the chuck just turned the drill shaft. We were back to this again:

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After attempting several different tactics, I wedged an M8 bolt in to the drill chuck and attached the impact driver to try and shock it free. No luck. The final straw came when I lodged a screwdriver in the gearbox to try and lock it, but just shredded the gears and ruined the gearbox. Oh well.

Lesson learned: When dismantling a drill, remove the chuck first.


Monday


Fresh start on Monday. Attempted the M8 bolt in the chuck/impact driver tactic with the third drill that I hadn't butchered with a hacksaw. Success! The ball bearings flew everywhere, but I wasn't bothered by this point, just relieved. I locked the clutch off on both drills with grub screws and fitted the mounts. Ready for use!

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Tuesday

Today consisted of a trip to Halfords to buy a bike tyre and some safety glasses. From the information that Nat gave me about the mounts, it would give me precisely 0mm of ground clearance with 100mm wheels and a 20mm base. The bike tyre should give extra grip and clearance from the arena floor.

I cut the polycarbonate on the bandsaw for the front and back panels and then set about marking up the layout of the internals on the HDPE baseplate.

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With a LiPo battery still to add, It's going to be cozy in there!

Final action of the day was to mark up the wheel holes and line up the motors for mounting to the base.

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Now all I need to do is get my hands on a jigsaw to cut the wheel holes, then I can start putting the finished robot together! It's all getting very exciting.