From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

**Roland** · 26th March 2011, 08:55

Originally Posted by Hard Time

Yeah the dx5e is fine, what are you using hinges for?

Since I'm having sloped sides to my bot I was wondering how I could get minimal ground clearance, hinges seemed like an idea since they move themselves appropriately for minimum ground clearance.

**Laser** · 26th March 2011, 10:13

what would happen if I got underneath your sides and lifted your sides up?

**Roland** · 26th March 2011, 10:21

Flipper wise the actual snap of the flipper would push me up less than if it was attached, but the plate on the end of the hing would make the air born part a bit more erratic, lifter wise, not much I could probably drive away. The purpose of the hinges is so that you can't get underneath, so that would never happen anyway.

**RogueTwoRobots** · 26th March 2011, 10:42

Originally Posted by Roland

The purpose of the hinges is so that you can't get underneath, so that would never happen anyway.

You can't say never when fighting in the arena. Things will happen in there that you either won't expect or won't have accounted for.

My personal opinion is that skirts/hinges are pretty redundant in robot combat today. The only floor they'd most likely be suited to is the Robo Challenge floor; having the heavyweights being flipped and bouncing all over the RR and RL floors means there are usually a few lips and bumps for the feathers to negotiate and these can be prime areas for skirts and hinges to get snagged/stuck/jammed upon.

If you're going to be flipped, you're going to be flipped. A ground-skimming flipper blade with the entire force of the robot and bungees holding it down is most likely going to get under a ground-skimming skirt with just the weight of the hinges/skirt material holding it down. I prefer to leave a reasonable amount of ground clearance (5mm-8mm) and make sure that the robot is invertible or can self-right. That way you are less likely to get stuck on the floor of any of the arenas, yet can still keep fighting when flipped.

Just my two centimos anyway

**Roland** · 26th March 2011, 10:57

Hmmm, what if you were to grind down the corners on the hinge? Surely that would stop it from catching if you placed the hinge on the bottom and had a fixed wedge?

I think I'm going to redesign this thing so it works both ways up. I'm off to see my dad for a bit but I'll CAD a new design I've just thought of when I get back.

**Roland** · 26th March 2011, 14:34

Well, I've tried it and it doesn't appear to work greatly. I'm gonna stick with my plan for now, unless anyone has any genuine ideas of the body style.

Interested about what would happen with blunt cornered hinges, I think work quite well in theory.

**Roland** · 1st April 2011, 20:04

Vapextech don't have their own chargers for the 3300mAh so what charger should I get?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12v-NiMH-3300mAh- ... 3353c52b76?

I've made about 130 quid so far to spend :L Not much but I'm getting some more for my bday in april

And then pocket money will probably buy the rest!

Thanks again

**Roland** · 4th April 2011, 17:44

Ordered Motors and my 6 blue wheels

Going to get the RC for birthday on the 15th and some spending money to add to the cause! Had another look at chargers for the batteries and I can't find anything, it's becoming quite frustrating, why would you sell 12v Batteries but no 12v output chargers? I'm clearly being a dolt.