quote:

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Originally posted by kkeerroo:

For the rest: Isn't the axe head tethered by the shaft or handle? Or the axle?

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These guys probably worked in rigging or similar. When I worked on TV lighting, we always had to tether lights with a steel rope or chain to independant mounting points. The cables had to have a 6X safety factor and nowadays I think they have to be certified as well.

The tether idea is pretty lame as the mounting point will probably never be adequate. I would make the axe handle half as strong as I wanted, then make a second handle with seperate mounting bolts - the inspectors can decide which one is the tether
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

The whole concept is stupid in my opinion. and yes you can quote me.

The Arena is supposed to contain whatever the bots can get up to. If it cant, you dont run those bots. period.

Trying to tack bits on to the robot to stop it breaking apart "too much" is so back-asswards its not even funny.

I suppose a sharp-edged chunk of titanium armour panel or wedge ripped off and sent flying is considered less dangerous than an equivalent weight axe head with blunt edges on 5 out 6 sides ?

If they're trying to think of a way that an arenas life can be extended, just limit the KE of the bots allowed to run in there. Whether they're spinning, axeing, or ramming, Polycarb will absorb a certain amount of energy.. except......

I wonder if its occured to them that saws go through polycarb like butter yet ? Oops, looks like saws might be about to get banned too..

Fortunately, since we arent "affiliated" (or any such rot) with anyone, we have the ability to ignore dumb-ass rules like this unless we think they're a good idea.

Given that the arena is typically surrounded on at least 2 sides by bot-builders and we better than anyone know what our machines are capable of, that if we thought we were at risk by someones flying axe-head, then there would be wider support for this rule.

Seems to me, most of the builders are shaking their heads at this one.
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

See?

I told you it is not worth discussing and yet 2 pages full about it.

ah, we like a good argument about rules on occasion.

It gives us something to get all fired up about in between matches
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

Never a truer word spoken! What about polycarb and fire? Better ban all the flame throwers while we are at it
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

*Pops off a granade*

Walkers should get double the weight limit as a bonus too!!!!


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https://www.halfdonethings.com/

OK Thats it.

Everyone into the Arena. Leave the bots outside !

Now, 3 2 1 Activate.. Last one standing wins..
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

I'll bring the bottle of NO2 !!!!
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https://www.halfdonethings.com/

And remember to wear a tie incase your head falls off. Oh, and what ever you do, dont even think of spinning in a circle unless you weigh under 6Kg,

I have tethered my arms so I can do super cool helicopter dancing safely.
Also has that extra cool stigmata effect!
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

why does the roof have to be lexan? its not generally something you look through.
a good inch of plywood would probably do the job pretty well and should be cheaper.

I'm wondering if squidgy urithane would be a better material than polycarb for an energy absorbing type material.
ball park figures here.
6x9 sheet 4mm thick you are looking at about 12kg worth of water clear urithane which works out to about $300 or so.

Run a kevlar rope around the outside (in a thicker section) then attach the window to a steel frame with trampoline springs.
Put another layer of lexan ~3mm a good 400mm behind the window and bobs your chimpanzee. Steel framed window, (steel covers the springs and the edge of the window)

work = force X distance thus
force = work / distance

By allowing the urithane to "catch" the projectile and take 400mm to decelerate it the force is going to be pretty drastically reduced getting it back into sane realms.

If your really keen you could probably run spectra or kevlar fibers through the urithane and make a net (i think you still want a matrix material).

edit
hmmm can ya tell i started this post like 4 hours ago then gave up and watched farscape?
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

Two layers of shade cloth is sufficient if you ask me. A top layer that is pulled tight and a bottom layer spaced 400mm below the top layer that hangs loose (Like the arena netting at Kilkivan) which will catch anythin big, slow a large portion of the impact down before/if it hits the top layer.

Polycarb for the roof is expensive and unnecessary in my oppinion.
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https://www.halfdonethings.com/

smart man. Shadecloth is nice and easy to put up but i'm not sure how easy it is to get it cut to perfect arena size. because to pull it tight you have to pull the corners out and this means the edges will be not stuck against the walls. Sure you can bolt them to the walls but this is very impracticle. So basically there will always be a weak point in the roof for shrapnel to get out. But in a perfect world an excellent idea.

Another good reason for Sidetracked to hurry up and replace the putput with a nice big combination Dodgem car and Robot arena.

Steel roof to power the dodgems and contain debris.

Only reason for pollycarb roof would be weight? and proven ability to contain robots.
And possibly recycling blemished panels as Brett suggested.
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Satisfaction is proportional to effort and results.