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Nick
Experienced Roboteer
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 11802
Location: Sydney, NSW
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Robowars day one report:
It was as very quiet day For Mr Mangle on day one; I had a bye for round 1 and then in round 2 had was matched up with Weasel, driven by Miles. Weasel is a 2WD full body lifter with a steel frame. I started off with a frontal charge but Weasel's sloped front deflected Mangle's weapon. After some circling and pushing, I caught one of weasel's partly exposed wheels and ripped the tread off - after that the fight was definitely going my way. After a couple of flips and disabling Weasel's lifter mech, Mangle eventually immobilized Weasel for a KO.
Mr Mangle drove reasonably well but had way more gyro dancing than I'd like, its going to be a real handicap against the fast steering horizontal spinners. Mangle's round 3 match tomorrow is against Bender 4, new horizontal spinner driven by Gary that has won its last match against a vertical spinner without getting a scratch. If I win that match, Mangle faces Glen's Obliterator, the most destructive spinner in the comp by far.
Mr Mangle 2:
Oh dear, not happy at all! The weapon ESC mysteriously died - no smoke, no bangs, just no spin-up after the first successful weapon test. Lots of parts substitution testing shows the problem is the ESC, but I still have no idea why it failed. I already ordered several replacements so that may last me for the UK Robochallenge event. I also tested the 3D printed self-leveling wheels and while they worked better than Colsons, it wasn't by much at all and much less than I hoped . _________________ Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion
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Sat Aug 19, 2017 11:34 pm |
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Nick
Experienced Roboteer
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 11802
Location: Sydney, NSW
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Robowars day two report:
Day two was a total disaster! This the swanky venue that Steve organised:
Mr Mangle's round 3 fight was with Gary's Bender 4, a new bot that combines a decade of experience and Gary's impeccable welding to make a very tough horizontal spinner.
After chasing each other around the arena and inflicting minor damage on each other, Mangle took a large hit that seized up a poorly assembled P60 gearbox, which made and ESC catch fire, winning the match for Garry.
Over too the loser's bracket for Mr Mangle; in round three, he fought a new bot called Poorly designed. The bot a actually very well constructed but only has a low speed vertical drum. I turned up my weapon speed and managed to out drive Poorly Designed and get in some good hits before stacking it in a corner of the arena for a win - more weapon speed is clearly better .
In loser's round 4, Mr Mangle went up against Mini Mower, One of Garry's older bots. I really don't remember much about this match; we didn't damage each other much and Mangle eventually won on points for flipping Mini Mower a couple of times.
In Loser's round 5 Mr Mangle took on Reboot 2, yet another Rotwang bot. Reboot was in a bad way after fighting Obliterator and it's drum wasn't working. I got in some good hits and pushed Reboot around until both drive ESCs suddenly died! Reboot wasn't attacking at the time and I still have no idea what happened to them.
That was it for Mangle, with a 2nd loss kicking him out of the competition _________________ Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion
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Fri Aug 25, 2017 4:58 am |
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Nick
Experienced Roboteer
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 11802
Location: Sydney, NSW
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Day 2, half time report:
Mr Mangle got quite a good draw, with only a few really tough bots. I round one, I had Drumroll and a new wedge bot called Bruiser 3. Everything went my way at the start, with some smaller hits on the other bots and taking little damage in return. I got in a huge hit on Drumroll, stopping it's weapon bending the weapon shaft and breaking some welds, then I got in a good hit on bruiser, slicing off a couple of chunks from the wedge:
After that, the weapon spun down and a few seconds later Mr MAngle caught fire in a major way: flames shooting out the wheel wells and smoke filling the arena . Everyone thought it was a Lipo fire but it was the weapon ESC.
The thing is just a block of charcoal now and the fire coated everything in sticky black tar:
That drive motor is still fine apart from the melted sensor lead; all the other wiring had silicone insulation and survived the flames.
After some testing, I have a new theory: The weapon motor has one phase with much lower resistance and it could have been that way for a long time, explaining why the other ESC broke. I swapped in a spare ESC and brand new motor and am waiting for a break to test it.
The next match is against Beauty 2 and a new wedge bot called Come here and say that. its mostly plastic and uses the drive from a heavyweight, but is having major electronics issues. _________________ Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion
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Sun Aug 27, 2017 12:05 am |
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Nick
Experienced Roboteer
Joined: 16 Jun 2004
Posts: 11802
Location: Sydney, NSW
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Robo Challenge, end of day 2:
I managed to clean out all the melted plastic, solder blobs and some of the sticky tar. The Hobbyking weapon ESC was installed with the spare weapon motor and they seem to work although there was no chance to test in the arena. I used a special set-up for this match; the front forks were the thin & extra low beater clearance set and I turned the front roll hoop backwards to get better access to the backs of the tall bots I was up against - a risky move as it transpired.
The 2nd match of the day started out really well, Beauty 2 charged right for Mr Mangle as expected but I spun up quickly and dodged. Things got pretty wild after that with a 3-way tussle. I kept attacking Beauty two and got in some good hits - two on the back snapped off the rear spikes, put major cracks in the corner welds and caused a leak in the gas plumbing.
One of the hits also jammed the gas tank against The left wheel, disabling it and snapped a large weld on the front left corner:
Somewhere in the middle of that, Mangle smashed the pit button tyre and threw it out of the arena as revenge for past years and then got tipped onto it's front. The backwards facing hoop didn't hold the front of the bot off the floor so Mangle was resting on the tips of the forks and the beater each time it revolved.
If the beater stopped I would be permanently immobilised so there was no choice but to keep spinning. Mangle was caught between Beauty 2 and Come Over Here And Say That Again (COHASTA) and luckily self-righted. Shortly after that, a big hit threw Mangle into the narrow space between the pit and the arena wall. While trying to turn and exit, one of Mangle's wheels slipped over the edge of the pit and it was all over.
Beauty 2 was out of gas and running one one wheel. It had an extended pushing match with COHASTA and for some reason COHASTA had a wheel drop off, giving Beauty 2 a hard-won 3 points for the Judges decision.
While Mangle lost the match, I am fairly happy. The weapon motor problem is fixed; even with the face-planting incident, the motor and electronics only got mildly warm and the drive motors are still in top condition. I am declaring Mange to be better than new and now in BBQ flavour after it's fiery shakedown tests
tomorrow is more good news: in round 5, Mangle is up against two bots that are no-shows, giving it a bye and automatic 4 points. The 2nd match of the day is against An electric lifter and CO2 Flipper:
While both those bots have done quite well, they should be very susceptible to a vertical spinner and with nothing to lose, I plan to turn the weapon power up and take no prisoners. As long as I can survive them double-teaming me for a short time, I am fairly confident in a win. That would be a total of 10 points, which is usually enough to get through or at least into a play-off round. _________________ Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion
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Sun Aug 27, 2017 5:42 am |
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