If the blades spin together I'd be worried about what happens if both blades catch.
Looks cool though, perhaps put a bar joining the weapon mounts.

If you have the time why not go for the hub motors?
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

I always wanted to do a design like this but with the weapon arms articulated and spring loaded to accommodate different sized meals
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

Well it looks like I'll have plenty of time since I wont be at the event on the 21st, so i have however long until the next beetle event happens! I'll do a bit of experimenting with some of the spare motors I have.

Yeah they spin inwards, that was the point, youll tend to bounce the opponent off one disc and into the other, hitting them twice. Alternately, perhaps, they jam the opponent inside, the belts slip, i shut down the power and then drive around holding them smashing them into walls until either they come free or we stop for an unstick, either way amusing me endlessly.

Andrew, hmm! Maybe an idea for future revision

The other thing I'm experimenting with is the planetary gearboxes I have tonnes of from these dishwasher door closing mechanisms. The gearboxes are pretty quality, made in Germany, 25mm diameter all metal gear planetary with 4 planet gears per stage and ball bearings, and the same shaft size as the '1000rpm' ebay gearmotors. They have three stages for big reduction for its original application, however they are built in such a way that I should be able to remove a stage and machine down the outer ring to drop the reduction to a suitable speed. The come with 24v motors so the other task is to mount a suitable 12v replacement with proper brushes and metal end caps with the pinion swapped over etc, or see if there is a brushless solution that will work. I'll document it all on here when I get to it. Hoping they will be at least more combat proof than the ones I've been using.
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<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

So getting geared up for the Sydney event at Vivid, time to give Das Boot a quick overhaul.

Nothing too complex, Das Boot was a grand finalist last time out and I figure it doesnt need anything major, but the weak point in its last event was the drill based drive system, so that's been ditched and Catastrophe donated its Banebots P60s matched to some fresh Banebots tread for this event.

The other issue last time was that it was overweight upon scrutineering, which resulted in me frantically chopping one whole side of 5mm mild steel armour off to get it under (along with lots of other unessential bits!). What I failed to realise in my panic at the time was that the 5mm is infact 2x 2.5mm layers, so it was a simple matter to take the outer layer off the other side and weld it back on the open side, without gaining any weight. While I was at it I also rewelded the support bars inside the shell as the birdshit welds had cracked Did I ever mention this robot was once attacked by Demon at my invitation while it was immobilised, as I had decided it was too shit to be a full competition spec featherweight? Well it survived with a few speed holes, haha

Another change was I've moved the wheel centreline back, such that there is a fair bit of wheel poking out the back of the shell to aid in self righting (which will definately be important in a Sportsman comp full of flippers!)

I've also replaced the bolt that stops the arm movement with a longer rod, that now contacts the shell on both sides, as the single side bolt before kept twisting and I was getting concerned it would twist right around or fatigue and seperate from the rest of the flywheel, both of which would put the weapon out of action during a fight.

During reassembly I also shimmed out the weapon arm a bit more for a tighter fit between its shaft supports, this eliminated lots of annoying side to side play.

Then rewired everything, Catastrophe's electrical system is shared with Das Boot as well, it all lifted out and transferred very nicely into Das Boot, complete with Whyachi power switch and power LED

After the welding and grinding



Halfway through rewiring



Under the limit this time!



Quick test to prove it still works (short, fairly unexciting video)

http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp134/jaemus/robot/VID_20150529_100952_zpsactolbgo.mp4

All done! Spanking new paint and ready to rock


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<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

Last edited by Jaemus on Fri May 29, 2015 11:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

looking great marte cant wait to see it it action

thanks man
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<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

Awesome job Love the look too. Got the perfect shade of gray and everything XD
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

Thanks dude
Battleship grey ftw

it's a fine line between that and bogan VL commodore primer grey
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<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

Okay, Event Report time

This event will always be memorable to me, as it was the best Sydney event yet, venue was amazing, and of course, Das Boot v Farm Boy: The Saga Continues. But the biggest thing for me was what a significant personal acheivement it was for me to have made it to the event with a functioning robot in the first place. Apart from the fact that as the result of my marriage ending I'm now a full time parent half of the time to a 9 month old girl, and this was a week where I was doing exactly that, but it was also very seriously the most stressful week of my entire career due to a major disaster of unprecedented scope at work, and the thought of having to rebuild a robot in the evenings after hours of continuing to work on service allocations after I got home, whilst also minding the baby, was painful in the extreme. The extra stress this caused helped not at all as I was torn between responsibility and what I wanted, knowing that the only way to have both was to sacrifice sleep and sanity. However I pushed through, and am proud of what I achieved as it was proof to myself that I can still do the things I love, maintain my identity, passion for my hobbies and sense of self in the face of the difficult lifestyle I now have.

Anyway

In terms of the actual event, mixed results for Das Boot. It seemed to be popular with the crowd which was nice. I don't remember well enough the blow by blow, but in short the robot performed quite well for the first few matches. I was able to repeatedly flip my opponents effectively and aggressively, which was particularly enjoyable in the much anticipated rematch against Aarons formidable, broadly similar robot Farm Boy.

The BaneBots drives lifted from Catastrophe were powerful on the 5S battery and very controllable, I was chucking down some serious urethane and getting some mega high speed slides happening and pinpoint precision (by my standards)in getting the flipper where it was needed.

Suddenly had all over again the problem I had at the last Sydney sportsman event, where the drive pinion for the weapon kept coming off the shaft. This was a big oversight on my part, as during that event, without access to a welder I had epoxied it back on, and for this event, while I knew that it was still held on only with epoxy, due to the fact that it had held up fine for the remainder of the last event, and a bit of 'if it isnt broken dont mess with it', plus lack of time, I left it as it was.

This cost me several matches, but at least I was able to make an attempt and try to ram and push and control my opponents with the now reasonably effective drive system.

The real kicker came in my first semi final, which I entered with loctite retaining compound applied to the pinion, but barely just begun to cure. In the match I got jammed in the gap between the arena wall where it was already bowed out, and the floor. This locked up a wheel and burned a motor, which along with another pinion failure just prior, put me out of contention for further finals and that was it for Das Boot.

Lessons learned

* That pinion and shaft need a keyway cut into them. That can't happen ever again.
* Banebots wheels are just too soft and wear too fast. Apparently they are no longer available so it might be time to do what Glen suggested in his thread (and in person) and lathe the remaining urethane off them and screw some bike tread on as this is apparently a proven effective modification.

Planned modifications

* The above
* Better battery bay (no more cable ties)
* Shock mounting for the weapon ESC to match the drive ESC's and RX (also no more cable ties)
* Bespoke wiring with the inclusion of some wire mounting points to neaten up the wiring
* It's own set of Banebots P60's or perhaps Botbitz GM45's or whatever they're called and it's own set of TZ85's, rather than stealing all this from Catastrophe
* Remake bottom covers without big holes where the old drives were, better mounting points for these as well
* Add a stronger retaining point to the flywheel, the one it has at the moment still kept twisting despite the longer rod contacting both sides of the frame (although it was a very convenient T-handle for carrying the robot!)
* Having first done the above, perhaps a split battery pack so I can run the weapon on its native 24V (6S or maybe even 7S). There is both space and weight to allow this
* Tweak the radio so that the flipper has a little room in the trim for that channel to hold it down slightly when not being actuated
* Brighter power light

Nothing major or critical really which is a good thing
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<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

Was great to see it there despite everything and hope it was a good event.

Crowd loved it but unfortunately there was never enough time for the pinion to cure.

Some easy mods and will be very reliable and effective (I seem to be saying this a lot about the sportsmans)

Steve
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Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

Excellent event report! What size is the weapon motor shaft - I may already have the right sized broach for the pinion.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

What module is the pinion? with all the abuse its had perhaps you can just get a new blank pinion gear and we'll tig it onto the shaft.

If you keyway it you still need to hold the pinion in place laterally.

Can you get another weapon motor to have an event spare?

If you do the push down stick an ammeter in there, make sure you don't overheat the motor/controller.
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

Awesome work dude, despite the odds. Damn that pinion slip. Thought Das boot looked awesome and i think the weapon design is so original with that massive cog out of a car, and works so effectively when it is in top form. Cant wait to see it at the next sportsman event
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Miles Blow - Julie Pitts
www.mulesfilm.com.au
www.wombokforest.com.au

-Pickasso- Vivid Sportsman champion 2015

quote:

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Originally posted by marto:
Was great to see it there despite everything and hope it was a good event.

Crowd loved it but unfortunately there was never enough time for the pinion to cure.

Some easy mods and will be very reliable and effective (I seem to be saying this a lot about the sportsmans)

Steve

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quote:

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Originally posted by Nick:
Excellent event report! What size is the weapon motor shaft - I may already have the right sized broach for the pinion.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Valen:
What module is the pinion? with all the abuse its had perhaps you can just get a new blank pinion gear and we'll tig it onto the shaft.

If you keyway it you still need to hold the pinion in place laterally.

Can you get another weapon motor to have an event spare?

If you do the push down stick an ammeter in there, make sure you don't overheat the motor/controller.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by miles&Jules:
Awesome work dude, despite the odds. Damn that pinion slip. Thought Das boot looked awesome and i think the weapon design is so original with that massive cog out of a car, and works so effectively when it is in top form. Cant wait to see it at the next sportsman event

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its a pretty big pinion from memory…could you just drill through it, into the motor shaft and tap in a grub?…or maybe silver solder..that sticks to brass.
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Miles Blow - Julie Pitts
www.mulesfilm.com.au
www.wombokforest.com.au

-Pickasso- Vivid Sportsman champion 2015