Peter Wallers Robot Ramblings

[AntRoboteer]

Looks like you've gone with bright green as well now! Nice!

[Shakey]

Loving the colour and can't wait to see it fight!

[peterwaller]

Just been doing a rebuild on the new Combatant as the lemon receiver broke at the last AWS .
To make it more environmentally friendly and help distinguish it from Anticyclone it is now in a nice bright green.
I have increased the size of the chassis as it was always a bit of a squeeze getting every thing in.

The polycarb is now 1.5 mm and is wrapped under the front to give more protection from vertical spinners.

The wheels are wider with softer tyres to give more grip.

[Rapidrory]

I feel you should make a single tooth bar for it; that would be different AND more scary :L

[peterwaller]

Not quite so convinced about single tooth blades admittedly you get a bigger engagement but if that is not enough to break or throw the opposition I feel you maybe more likely to stop the spinner. That and I am not to sure about the balancing.
Been doing some more track experiments this time giving the 3D printed inserts internal teeth that fit into the holes in the center of the track mold so they form the teeth that engage in the drive wheels.
Here is an earlier try with square teeth and the final version with round teeth molded in a track.

[peterwaller]

I finally seem to have a track molded in the softer 00-30 rubber that stays in place on continuous high speed rotations.

The round teeth are 3 mm long and the holes in the inner mold are 2 mm deep so you get 1 mm of rubber under the the insert and 2 mm of teeth to engage in the drive wheels.
Here are the two parts of the mold and the insert.

This produces a track that is a little thicker than necessary so I am printing a new mold to try and reduce that by 2mm.

[Rapidrory]

Looks good! Was just watching this and thought you might find it interesting; gecko tape tracks could be pretty awesome :L https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XQfYKYO380

[peterwaller]

That is certainly interesting although I have got some Gecko tape but haven't found it as good as soft rubber.
Scott has had more success with it and I believe he used it on his latest tracked robot at the last event.

[EpicentrE]

Your moulded tyres are definitely better than the tape I use, I'm just lazy

[Rapidrory]

The other possibility I've been looking at is slick silicon wheels with a brush pushed against them to keep them clean.. could even have a tiny rotating brush!