Is this too heavy?

[Lord Bob]

0 thats a shame

[Lord Bob]

I have just had an idea for a weapon!!!!

it's sort of like a thwackbot, but just the hammer moves, not the whole robot. It would be pulled into position by a windscreen wiper motor and fired by a big spring. Would this work?

Also, how much might that weapon cost to make if it will work?

[gravity]

yes, 145 gbp.

[Metal Demons]

It sounds a bit like a sideways axe, or if it's overhead then you've just described an axe to be honest.

There's a reason people who design axe robots have the axe come down from above - generally people's top armour is weaker, and more importantly you have the ground to support their robot allowing force to be effectively transferred. If you hit them sideways you will just knock both robots apart and not be able to follow up your attack, and a spring powered horizontal attack is unlikely to have any effect against any kind of side armour.

Especially when people often design to face horizontal spinners which deliver impacts orders of magnitude larger.

Oh, and I wouldn't recommend doing a motor + spring mechanism as designing something which will store a large amount of energy in a spring and release it effectively on demand while not breaking itself is more challenging and requiring of machine tools and a fair bit of engineering and materials knowledge than doing the same job with pneumatics to be honest.

[Lord Bob]

Thanks a lot for all your help

I have decided on a design and will make a build diary once i have bought a few pieces

[Lord Bob]

Oh dear, I'm back with questions yet again......

What sort of size does it need to be? If there aren't any rules about that what sizes are all your robots?

[daliad100]

As long as it can fit through the door it should be fine but remember that the bigger you make your robot, the greater the area of armour you will need, hence it will need to be thinner and not as strong.

[team_orr]

i think 2mx2m was the limit? should be no probs there :P

[Lord Bob]

2x2 metres is massive, thanks for the help

[typhoon_driver]

as a rough guide most feathers could approximate to 300mm by 300mm. Obviously there are variations on this but it gives you a rough idea of the size of the machines