Team BLEEP build diary

[voorsk]

I still haven't moved house.
Most of my robot stuff is in storage.
But I kept some back!

I kept my parts box, a few bits of polycarb, and my only completed bots; Sprouting Potato and Fermented Melon. No way of soldering properly, so I have to use the same electronics.

Fermented Melons electronics were okay. The weapon motor is a bit jammed, but hopefully I can clean that out. I just need to redo the armour and shorten the axe so that it fits into the 4" cube.

Sprouting Potato was waaaaaay too fast, fanx to its 20:1 motors. I can't change the motors, so I've changed the wheels. It's now sporting some 3D printed wheels that didn't fit properly when I first tried them during the last build. A needle file has sorted them out!



Reducing the wheel size meant using cable ties instead of brackets to hold the motors in place. I haven't quite sussed that bit out yet, as they wobble about a bit too much. I'm gonna try using polycarb offcuts to wedge them in. I also reduced the armour thickness, as it was only thick for stiffness, and I don't think that's necessary. In fact, I think it made things worse.

Somehow, there is now enough room for a servo, so I'm pondering the best shape of flipper to use, and how to mount it. I'm trying to keep it invertible, which is making it tricky.

In other news, my plan to make an FPV crawler has mutated into me spending too much money on a pair of FPV drones. I have a feeling that hobby is going to become an extreme wallet drain!

[Kyro]

depending on your transmitter, you can slow the speed of the motors down further... im guessing (by the rx) that you use a afhds2a compatible tx so maybe a flysky fs-i6?
i know you can use rates to slow things down, but im not entirely sure how to advise for that other than just playing around and seeing what you end up with, however, i do my own mixing (even with esc's with built in mixing) and that way its as simple as setting the percentage of each channel which corresponds to the speed of both drive and steering...

as for the motors moving, pull cable ties as tight as you possibly can (use pliers) then, when you have finished building it you can use that little bit of wiggle to get all 4 wheels in contact with the ground and set them there with a little bead of hot glue... just be sure to stay well away from the gearboxes.

hope this helps

Luke

[voorsk]

Yup - tis an i6 alright. I've adjusted the sticks a bit since last time, and I've already adjusted the rates. I intended to add resistors for a bit of braking, but that'll have to wait. The main thing will be practise, I think. I never managed that in its previous incarnations. I need to run a gauntlet with it!

Hot glue... I hadn't thought of that! I was planning to use some silicon grip thingies, but i think they're too squishy. I might try glue if nothing else works (I don't like things to be too permanent, in case I mess up the shell due to indecision)

[MarkR]

I'm using 20:1 motors and my robots are a bit fast but still work. I did some adjustment in the firmware and got the speed about right.

[Kyro]

hot glue is never permanent

[voorsk]

Before I post this, I'm sticking my fingers in my ears.. er... eyes? I'm not listening to advice! I like to make my own mistakes.

With that in mind, here's a new project that's wrong on soooo many levels; Curious Custard!


It's an antweight thwackbot!


As if antweight thwackbots weren't underpowered enough, this attempt is using 100:1 motors, and is more like a patbot. I thought 50:1s would be too fast with the big wheels, but I think I went too far. It might improve with a bit of weight on the axe (50g left) - I haven't decided what that'll be, yet.

oh yeah, and the balance is all wrong. As far as I know, there's supposed to be a bit of counter-balance to the hammer, but the weight's all over the place. I have ideas, though. This is just the first attempt; the prototype, if you will, which is certainly providing a learning experience! I'm hoping to get it finished for BotFest 3.

[Kyro]

pat bot you say?

this is a perfect opportunity to have a little hand as the weapon so you can slap other bots...

[MarkR]

Nice wheels / tyres. Where did you get them/ make them?

[voorsk]

pat bot you say?

this is a perfect opportunity to have a little hand as the weapon so you can slap other bots...

*unplugs eyes* YES!

I got the wheels here: https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/moon ... heels-pair
Plus, someone linked a narrower variant earlier in the thread: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32594453305.html

edit: just had a brainwave! My main issue was battery placement, and I had a feeling that I was thinking two dimensionally. I was right! Mounting the weapon shaft 'vertically' solves all my problems. revision 2 should be done tonight, with faster motors, a steel weapon shaft, and proper balancing.

[voorsk]

Better, but still not quite right...


It's now using 50:1 motors, and has the axe shaft mounted vertically. The shaft is threaded M3, so I can add almost anything as a bludgeon.

I thought polycarb might crack after repeated hits with the axe, so I made the base out of aluminium. It's cheap stuff, tho, and quite heavy, so the bot still weighs 100g without armour or an axe head. I'm gonna go back to polycarb and see how it goes. I doubt it has enough power to break itself.

edit (I always feel bad about posting loads when the board's quiet):
The polycarb made it 4g lighter. Hardly worth it. I arranged the components into a vaguely usable state, and gave the bot a try.



It seems to have an issue with one of the wheels not working, which is intermittent. When it works, it's too fast and really uncontrollable. It tends to try to flip itself over rather than turn, which is.. fun?



A fun bot is no fun if it only lasts seconds and causes no-contact restarts, so I'm gonna switch back to the 100:1 motors. Also, Fermented Melon now has it's new 3-way ESC. It felt like that bit in Red Dwarf when Legion swaps out the internals of Rimmers light bee for the hard light thingie.