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Ondray
Joined: 06 Jul 2015
Posts: 142
Location: Newcastle
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2016 Nationals: Andre vs Team Rotwang.
So 4 of my 8 fights were against the 'Rotwangs' and of the other 4; 2 were against another family. I felt a little outnumbered - but that only cemented my resolve.
Now for the post event data analysis, I'll start with Pot Head because it's the shorter analysis.
First fight of the event was against Rotwangs Reboot - a surprisingly fast drumbot with a jealously inducing amount of chrome. Pot Head had a lackluster debut, first problem was in testing he was turning the wrong way. So I reprogrammed the transmitter but foolishly stopped short on reversing one channel, which resulted in holding the transmitter sideways to drive. Second problem was the floor clearance was so low that the sticky tape starting squares (which were added after the testing) were enough to trap Pot Head. So cue event starting and he's beached az with a drum box rushing him. Managed to get the weapon spun up, but didn't do anything - got hit from behind and dislodged my dodgy power switch for a quick KO. The hit from behind bent up the weapon motor mount enough to loosen the belt a little - but at least my welds held.
Second fights was against the Rotwangs Minimower - pink Mo'd bot vs Pink bot...nice. I fixed the ground clearance, transmitter programming issues and tapped a bigger screw down the power switch which made it more solid. I also had to slide the weapon motor back a bit to tighten the belt but it was still a little loose. Cue the anticipated problem - first hit and the weapon driveshaft bent. With the bar bent up and dragging on the ground Pot Head was limping. But death before dishonor! No surrendering, I just got Pot Head to struggle though the 3 mins (or did I? I don't even remember) by spinning around and limping across the arena. A few more hits but no big marks.
Bent weapon shaft:
Third fight was against the armless Renegade, which meant I was fighting a wedge. Unfortunately Minimower further bent the motor mount so the weapon drive belt was too loose to spin up. So it was a pushy fight, Pot Head actually drives quite well and Renegade was quite underweight so I was holding my own - some notable herding of Renegade into the corners - until Pot Head was upended - no invertibility or self-righting, so match over. Having lost all three of the round robins Pot Head surprisingly didn't make it into the finals bracket
On Sunday I made up a belt tensioner and replaced all the broken chopping board skids with metal washers - so it was all ready for the rumble...which didn't happen. Lesson learnt - if the opportunity for a grudge match arises - seize it, don't wait for the rumble. I think I'll make up for this by smashing some stuff for Dad on fathers day.
Hellamax was a completely different story. Copped quite a beating, but kept going (all bar one match).
First fight was a repeat of the first fight from Vivid. Fighting Chain reaction who had replaced the horizontal chains with downward vertical lawnmower blades - scarier but didn't stop a frontal assault(I like to do my work in the strategy phase to keep the tactics simple). With both bots upgraded it was a much better fight than last time, Chain reaction lost power to it's weapon early on and then lost a drive wheel. Oh and wooden armor vs an axe. I tried to put in a bit of shoving for the crowd as well. Can't remember if it went the full 3 mins but Hellamax won
Second fight was against the other Robotm8kr bot - Basher, a rather intimidating axe wielding werewolf. An axe vs axe fight - my fave. Again this bot had had some upgrades and was driving pretty well, but still - wooden armor vs axe. Got some good chips in and was even got a couple of hits on the battery (which survived to Ryobi's credit). 3 mins of axing and shoving - grins all round - victory Hellamax. Initial damage just looked like a couple of marks on the polycarb, but there was a split tire and one of the wheel rims was broken. I'd say that Bashers axe hit's harder than Hellamax's. Just needs a better drive to point it in the right direction.
3rd fight was against Warboy - WARBOYS. Another axe bot He replaced the amazing giant comedic hammer with something functional. Pity it wasn't mounted solid. This fight was going my way - lots of bashing, Warboy lost it's weapon, a wheel was coming off...then as I drove around to get a run-up for a charging axe hit the damn power switch failed (as a side note I need to watch my expletives at these events as there are a lot of children around). So without power Hellamax was counted out and victory Warboy and the dodgy power switch was replaced with a removable link.
4th fight was against the Rotwangs again, with Skeletor. A great undead grabby drop saw bot. I thought the width of Hellamax would have helped keep it out of Skeletors arms and so kept the saw away from my soft polycarb covers. But no. At least in most of the grabs Hellamax was able to fight back with the axe, but there were a couple where he couldn't and I'm sure those moments counted a lot for the judges. I tried to get around the side but Skeletor is surprisingly round (a feature I noted in most of Rotwangs bots) so even if I did get up against the side Skeletor could still turn. One of the cuts managed to penetrate the polycarb and the saw brushed a few wires before stalling and a couple of the cuts were scarily close to the speed controllers (though they were protected by another 3mm of Al). In every grab I was trying to hit the loose wires, and I think I was hitting them but not doing any damage because they were loose! I was just thinking 'it'll only take one good hit there and it's lights out' but no such luck. The bots did get stuck together at one point, disabling the saw and letting Hellamax get a bit of a shove on. At some point Hellamax lost a wheel - but didn't care, the 4WD upgrade was worth it. The match went the full 3 mins and Skeletor won. Probably the most surprising thing was in the post match inspection the saw had even cut into the aluminum and took chunks out of some of the steel parts!
The cut that nearly caused a blackout:
5th fight - Did I mention I fought the Rotwangs a lot? This time it was against Hydra, with a (sportsman limited) drum and a broken saw. Again - it looks big and clumsy but is surprisingly fast, those scooter drives have some grunt and grip (my 125mm Bunnings wheels don't grip well). This match felt a bit like a repeat of the match against Voli at Vivid. But instead of lifting forks to get under me it was the drum - it had the unanticipated effect of pushing my robot on top of his, so I spent most of the match off the ground. I don't even know if I got a hit on, Hellamax was just getting shoved around. The welds holding the weapon arm onto the drive shaft broke so the axe was playing up toward the end of the match. Went the full 3 mins so the new removable link seems to work, judges awarded it to Hydra I'm guessing because I didn't get any good hits...really had the potential to penetrate those covers too...
Lastly was the sportsman rumble Glorious. With a weapon on it's way out I knew I was only going to get a couple of hits before Hellamax was a push bot. But that didn't matter because rumble. In fact a whole chisel got ripped off, which was a good thing because it meant the weapon arm was able to get under other bots for more pushing. Lost all the 3d printed end caps, a wheel, a chisel, got flipped a bunch, got sawed some more, shoved around a bunch, both weapon chains broke off, lost drive on one side...kept biffing. Again, glad I converted to 4WD. If the axe was working I probably would have targeted the balloons, and excellent addition by the way A very fun rumble. Biggest in Australia so far?
Did I mention Hellamax copped a beating?:
All in all a very fun event actually got to talk to people this time (Vivid was so short and busy I didn't get to talk to anyone). Being next to the Kiwi's and the guy with Prowler and Bezerker (can't remember your name for the life of me) was an interesting contrast - me with my hobbled together in the garage mostly hand cut and drilled scrap metal and second hand parts (seriously - not one of my motors are new) bots next to CNC'd thick or high grade metals with custom gearboxes and brushless motors. It was hard to believe the Kiwi's were combat robot newbies! I did learn the Dad had some background in robotics, and they did make the mistake of using too small a gauge wire for the main power cables in Undertaker - I was able to help them out with some thicker wire I had with me and a bunch of cable ties In return I got a hammer - which I feel morally obliged to mount as a weapon on Hellamax now...
So Positives:
- The upgrade to 4WD for Hellamax was more than worth it - drove really well and gave great redundancy.
- The wheels wheel'd. (for the most part - all the newly made wheels survived)
- Again being able to get out of aukward spots with the axe was great (there was one point where Hellamax was stuck on a bit of the other robot but was able to roll off)
- Pot head drove well once the ground clearance was fixed and the weapon wasn't bent up under it.
- Pot head's concept was good.
The negatives:
- (anticipated) Pot Heads weapon drive shaft was too flimsy.
- Power switches. That's 3 matches lost to my custom screw switch. They have been replaced with removable links.
- Pot head was neither invertible or self-righting capable.
- Hellamax is too easy to get under.
I told myself I was going to take a break, but I think the bots will be stuck in my mind until they are fixed up. Hellamax will get some new weapon arms, with stronger welds One of the arms will be a shorter one with some lifting forks and more of a gear reduction, mostly to stop other bots getting under my bot. But also for bots with no or slow self-righting. Pot Head will get a pot for a head A stronger weapon drive shaft. More durable skids (I realized they don't need to be big long things - that was just what I made to replace the idler wheels). I also told myself I was going to keep using the big radiator fan motor until it died - but it's just too big and heavy! I can easily replace that motor with something smaller, brushless and 1/4 the weight. Making Pot Head invertible and 1.5kg lighter so I can add some car tire armor. The weapon driveshaft is the hard part - sourcing some 20 or 25mm thick steel bar. I know the steel place down the road will be able to get be 6m of it - but I *really* don't need that much...a quick poke around the shed and I found the never-used weights sets - which uses 1 inch steel bars! I couldn't possibly deface our best clothes rack so a quick trip down to kmart and I now I have the drive shaft material:
It's probably not a high grade of steel (cast iron maybe), but what it lacks in quality it should make up for in quantity (ie: being thick). Had a hilarious converstation with the rather buff guy at the counter "Yeah nice, do some lifts with these bro" - "Nah I'm gonna chop 'em up and put them in a robot" - his dismay was gold. Now I just need some 25 mm bearings and a suitable brushless outrunner (advice there would be appreciated) (If you've read this far).
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Sun Aug 28, 2016 10:43 pm |
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Ondray
Joined: 06 Jul 2015
Posts: 142
Location: Newcastle
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Hellamax upgrades are continuing, now with an easier to swap weapon mount, a lifter and most importantly, neons:
I've been getting plenty of testing in, the RC wheels provide an amazing amount of grip and lower the robot a bit. The axe on the 1.5:1 reduction with the slightly shorter arm has less speed and penetrating power than the chisels, but self rights are easier and it should be able to tip bots over if it gets under. Can bash through a milo tin quite well.
The lifting arm has its own modularity built in, two lengths of forks and the ability to mount them wide or narrow according to my opponent. The lifting arm retains a spike on top so Hellamax can reverse up and do a little damage - again, penetrates a milo tin. Importantly, the gears are now welded to the weapon shaft, so I'm not relying on set screws. This was the other advantage of the new weapon mount.
Still to come is an upgraded version of the 'penetrating' arm, long arm with replaceable head for chisels, screwdrivers, drill bits, nails, flails or a rake if someone brings a drone
Pothead (People eater by his sportsman name) look like it's gone backwards, but that's what happens in a rebuild. I've cut of the old radiator fan motor mount and welded on a mount on the front of the bot for a weapon support shaft - which will be 20mm hard stainless steel rod with some 1mm thick brass tube as a bushing. Hopefully won't bend. The mount is solid anyway, 10mm steel reinforced with a 3mm steel cover. This time the shaft will stay still and the weapon will spin on it, as the belt will run under the bot so it's protected by the weapon.
I couldn't find any steel pulleys the right size that I could have welded to the weapon bars, so it'll be Al pulleys bolted to the weapons - which is better for the saws for the sportsman comp anyway. I've got some old 10" saw blades from Dad, they're 254mm - which is slightly above the sportsman 250mm, so I've also got an 8" set from Dunnings. The pulleys only arrived recently, now I've got all the parts so there's no excuse to not be in the shed (other than work and sometimes sleep).
Still a lot of work to do here, weapon motor mount, better skids, weapon mounting, pulley setup...at least it won't need all it's planned upgrades for the Vivid sportsman comp, though it's just a reserve at the moment.
Finally, now Hellamax can do pushups he can show of his 'underbelly', a great way to flash the audience:
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Tue May 16, 2017 10:24 pm |
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Ondray
Joined: 06 Jul 2015
Posts: 142
Location: Newcastle
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Having time for testing really makes a difference - driving Hellamax hard with as much floor space as possible in the shed exposed a loose wheel nut, a weak weapon weld and more importantly an overheating ESC. A TZ85 converted to brushed operation running 2 12V drills off a 4S battery is pushing it, but I think the real problem was the ESCs were all bundled up together in bubble wrap so the heat had nowhere to go. The middle ESC in the bundle was the one overheating, so I've given them some airflow. Subsequent testing seems ok.
With Hellamax finished I've had some time for Pot Head, it's driving and spinning...for the most part. Putting the pulleys on the same side as the weapon means everything is real close, any play in the saw blade threatens to rip the motor pulley out The new weapon motor is possibly too powerful for my dodgy setup, I think 10% throttle will be more than enough for sportsman saw blading. Speaking of saw blades, Ozito blades - hard but drill-able, old ryobi blades - adamantium. I've wreaked 7 drill bits trying to drill the steel they're made from, including 2 stepped bits trying to drill the hub out to fit on the 20mm shaft There will be a trip to the hardware store tomorrow to get the hardest 6mm drill bits they have, and some new stepped bits.
Here's the test driving setup, I've pulled it back apart for painting, LED installing and it will get a pot for a head this time.
My LED plan should be cool, UV LED strips under the body charging up a glow in the dark paint on the weapon - even with the bright arena lights the turbo charging of the glow in dark paint from the UV LEDs should make the weapon glow bright
The hard part will be getting these little things done and getting my confirmation report for my PhD done by Friday
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Sun Jun 04, 2017 8:58 pm |
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