Hi

Just thought I would give an update on the Big Wheeled robot,
Now named St Hammer.

The Hammer has had two outings now the first one was dogged with transmission failure this was due to me under estimating the forces on the final drive. Most of these failures have now been sorted, and the robot on its second trip out had no more problems. But I intend to strengthen these areas a little more to make the thing even more reliable.
The 3mm ARM steel has so far coped well with the collisions with only one dent!
The stub axle mounting bent when the Hammer was flipped out of the arena this took some straightening! I then re-enforced the areas with 3mm ARM steel in channel section, the stub axels are now secured through 9mm of ARM steel!
Now for the wheels themselves, I used 20€ bike tyres these have proved quite good, they are ripped to bits now, but the grip was amazing and I can get new ones for a tenner a pair. The wheels are made from 15mm UHMWPE this has proved a success, I may try some 12mm HDPE next, the reason is because I think a little more flex in the wheel may help save the stub axle problem from returning, and some robots with crushing weapons tends to put holes in the wheels and HDPE is weld able. So when the inevitable happens I can fix this.
The hubcaps work well to self-right the Hammer if it gets stuck,
The only disappointment is how hard I have found it to drive and deploy the weapon at the same time; this is not the fault of the robot but the driver!!!

Still the audience seem to like St Hammer, and so do team Bad Bolts.