Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

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peterwaller
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

Post by peterwaller »

Fixing Variant was not quite so simple.
The main problem was that the drum was too heavy and too far forward partly due to the modular design so there was little weight over the wheels and so little grip.
So I reduced the length, diam and wall thickness of the drum saving around 12 gms.
Scrapping the modular construction enabled me to shorten the distance between drum and wheels considerably giving further weight saving.
I have now been able to fit thicker tyres and upgrade to 3 cell and am still 12 gms under.
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Last edited by peterwaller on Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

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Although the new version of Variant performed much better at the Basingstoke Open it still had problems with tyres coming off batteries falling out and the glued on side armour/front supports coming off.
These are I hope now corrected with slightly harder tyres, batteries stuck in and side armour/front supports screwed and glued.
Also as it is not possible to vary the weapon I have changed its name to Combatant.
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Last edited by peterwaller on Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:53 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

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Finally some one has done some significant damage to my nylon armour and as expected it was Alex with Horizontal Spinner of Doom.
Flippant still managed to win the fight and it turned out they shouldn't have fought anyway but considering this is the 4th full combat event each with 4 nylon armoured robots I am more than pleased with the Alloy 910 nylon.
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One of the other gouges was from a previous fight I think against one of Rory machines.
Last edited by peterwaller on Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:55 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

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All better.
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Anticyclone was running well but seem to lack bite mainly I think because the blades are fairly well rounded so need a bit of work.
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Towards the end it was starting more slowly and catching the arena more so I stipped it down to find 3 of the 4 motor mounts had fractured.
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Last edited by peterwaller on Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

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As I mentioned the blade on Anticyclone had been rather rouned even though it is type 5 Titanium.
I suppose as you can drill and hacksaw it can't be that hard so I thought I would try the spring steel I have on Combatants drum as it is almost impossible to drill.
Reading on the internet high carbon steels can be annealed (softened) by heating it to red hot and letting it cool slowly.
I received some spring steel this morning and gave it a quick test and sure enough the drill made the tiniest mark on it.
I then placed the strip in the vice to stop the heat passing along the material and just heated the very end and after it cooled I was able to drill it fairly easily.
My intention is to find a way to heat sink the two ends of the blade and just anneal the center where I need to drill it for mounting.
The ends I can cut with a dremmel without softening and grind to shape.
You can re-harden the steel by reheating it and then quenching it but I don't think I will need to do that.
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Last edited by peterwaller on Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

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I made the new blade with the center annealed and although it took a bit of work to drill the 8mm hole in the center needed for Anticyclone I was really pleased with the result seen below on the right next to the old blade.
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Then I realized I had had another senior moment ( well I do clock up three score years and ten this month ) and forgotten the difference in density.
I had reasoned that as both blades were 2mm thick and about the same area they would probably weigh about the same but the new blade was about 8 gms heavier.
By the time I had hacked enough off of it to get the robot in weight using a dremel and diamond disc the whole blade had gone blue suggesting I had annealed it so I had to reheat it all up and immerse it in oil to re-harden it.
Here is the final blade which only time will tell if it is and improvement.
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Last edited by peterwaller on Tue Jul 04, 2017 10:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

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I was a bit disappointed having to cut down the new spring steel blade on Anticyclone so I decided to see if I could improve the design and save a bit of weight to get a full blade in.
By inverting the chassis and using a smaller diameter motor I was able to simplify the chassis and get the spinner and wheels much closer to the front.
The resulting weight saving means I now have a full blade of the same length but with an extra centimeter of reach.
Not only that but for the first time in a while I managed to design and print the chassis in one attempt with everything correct although I was a bit disappointed with the Scarlet dye which came out a bit pink for my liking.
I now have a new gas torch which got the center of the blade hotter and made the drilling even of the 7mm hole as easy as mild steel.
Here it is with anticyclone showing the improved reach.
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Here is the under side just waiting for a brushless controller to finish it off.
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Last edited by peterwaller on Tue Jul 04, 2017 10:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

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I have been thinking about all the new bigger blades about and am considering an expanding horizontal spinner.
As you can see from the cad drawings it is not exactly original but that is getting more and more difficult these days.
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

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One of the things I have noticed lately is I tend to flit from idea to idea without always completing them. :oops:
I have the unfolding spinner part designed and a new controller awaiting the PCB's and now I have started playing with walking mechanisms again.
Although my walking mechanisms have worked quite well they have always been to tall giving robots that are top heavy or difficult to self right.
The walking mechanism on shuffleaction was 70 mm high and I got that down to 60 mm on Mutant but I have just built an invert-able one that is only 40 mm.
Here it is in action.
https://youtu.be/jr_mbMjc8lM
Not sure what to use it in yet but they are fun to play with. :roll:
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Re: Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

Post by peterwaller »

The circuit boards arrived today and except for a slight hiccup on the servo connector which was easy to overcome it actually seems to work although I might need to tweek the software as inverting the table seems to have affected the centering slightly. The boards arrived with gold plated pads which are very easy to solder to.
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Last edited by peterwaller on Tue Jul 04, 2017 10:12 am, edited 2 times in total.
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