From My woodwoking days, I can tell you that for an equal thickness, Ply is stiffer & lighter then MDF. On the other hand, MDF is cheaper and has a smoother surface.

As soon as I get word, I will start picking stuff up; the van is really starting to pay for itself

No worries, well the bumpers are 35mm thick x 90mm tall, not sure what wood they are, looks like some kind of pine. The 35mm thickness is critical but the 90mm height could be taller if you cant get 90mm.

The corner to corner measurement is 249cm, so 4x 2.5m lengths of that should get us out of trouble.

With the roof I'll take your word on it lol! i don't know anything about wood in reality But if its stiffer and lighter then that sounds great if we can afford it. Looks wise thats not a problem if its rougher. The bottom and top of the arena will likely get a fabric covering to hide any lingering nastyness

We will also need to hang the lights from the centers of the panels too. Jake suggested we gut the big 500w lights and make our own enclosures for them, with some mesh steel i can get at edcon.

Anyway, ill PM you all the final measurements tommorow
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

From the photos, the bumpers are 35 x 90 construction pine. I can go to Bunnings Ashfield tomorrow and pick thru their timber stacks for the best looking pieces. They come in 2.4 or 3.6m lengths, so I will pick up the longer pieces and we can trim them down.

Sounds good

But a good day looms on the horizon, Because i think i see some blue sky and sun, OH GOD HOW I HAVE WAITED FOR THIS DAY.



Took the opportunity to re-re-re-re-assemble the arena and take note which bolts need to be welded in and which parts need to be ground down. They're are quite a few too keep me busy with this week

But the big yay is the legs! they actually appear to work as the up and down bowing is essentially gone, even with the remaining side to side wobblyness due to a distinct lack of roofage. I was tight rope walking my collosal 60kg of mass across the beams and i didn't die so that's a bit of optimism for yah


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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

OK, The van is loaded up with the following toolz for the build day:

Sliding mitre saw
Circular saw with TCT blade
2 metre straight-edge
18V cordless drill
clamps


Is that enough? Other goodies that I can bring:

MIG welder (AKA 'the steel glue gun')
Sabre saw with wood & metal cutting blades
assorted hole saws
9" angle grinder
14" metal cut-off saw
assorted sanders (good for removing rust)
Jigsaw

Cool stuff, is sunday good for you or saturday? Sunday works for me if it all possiblah

Wont get the roof bits until Tuesday but i reckon we can mock it up enough to get the floor and bumpers cut down and working.

Just wood working stuff will suffice for now, something to bevel the wood bumpers at 45 degrees and a way to trim the edges of the 1.2m floor panels straight. I've got the plastic tables + 2 huge strips of 3mm steel, so we could probably clamp the strips to the wood and use that as a guide for a hand held circ saw?

Ill drop you a PM anyway
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

apparently the guy who is to install the air cond at the apartment is coming on saturday so yeah im out until thats done with which ill find out time of tomorrow
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

Sunday arvo it is!

Sunday arvo it was!

New full length bumpers are done and the floor was installed. Very very happy with it. All thanks to Nick for his expert woodworking skills there




Though now i reckon we need to screw the edges where the wood meets because the floor panels bowing is inevitable.

Just gotta get the roof blocks and it should be looking pretty good
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

Epic build, everything went just right and I don't think we could have done better without CNC Once its painted up, the arena will look most professional.

Yeh you better screw those joins otherwise I am going to bitch to you about getting stuck.

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

Last edited by marto on Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:40 pm; edited 1 time in total

Yeah that's the job for tommorow, weld some more tabs around the edges for the panels to screw down to. The joins that aren't bowed out though are fantastically level
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

Righto, smashing through work here this week. Thus -

SUNDAY
SUNDAY
SUNDAY
And maybe saturday

Build day!

I will have a TON of stuff that needs doing.

- Derusting and prepping for paint, plus possibly even doing some painting
- cutting down of polycarb panels and roof panels
- screwing beams to roof panels
- maybe some miscellaneous welding and definitely grinding of parts
- making the fabric cover for the arena

All skill levels required If anyone can make it around 11 on that would be excellent, Ill put on a BBQ for all. There will be plenty to be done, rest assured!
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

Sounds like I need to load the van up with tools again!

argh, i want to help but so much stuff on, plus trying to get robot ready

ill be there if im around town
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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