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evil_steve
Joined: 06 Sep 2015
Posts: 304
Location: Adelaide, SA
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Alright, some thoughts post Vivid (sorry about the length).
* The chopping-board chassis/armour – this (mostly) held together a hell of a lot better than I thought it would. The main failure was on the most unsupported bit of armour (front/top), under
relentless battering from Repent.
Unfortunately that then exposed my lifting motors to said assault, destroying both of them. However, the duct-taped on replacement piece (which was actually thinner but I think better supported) then held up really well under the same conditions in the
rumble,
so I think it's got potential. Taking Zenghiaro apart the base plate has broken away around the barrel nuts on one side – this must have happened in the rumble as it wasn't there before then (I suspect getting thrown twice by Citizen Flips had something to do with it), although I had actually cracked around one of them slightly during construction anyway. Either way, it was still holding together by the end of the night, I'll just try and be more careful when I make the new base plate.
* The drive-train – I have mixed feelings about this. In testing and then the first 10 seconds of my
first match
it was great, but then I smoked the left hand 85A ESC, with it fusing into full reverse (I thought at the event that the front wheel had slid inwards and jammed against the chassis, but on reviewing video of the fight First Pick actually got a good hit on that wheel which is probably what jammed it). That made the rest of the fight … interesting, but more than that it also meant that I had to drop to 2WD for the rest of the event as I only had 30A ESCs as spares. This drove generally ok each fight but lacked any pushing power and was slow to turn as it was fighting the friction of the front wheels. Overall I like the 4WD platform, and the redundancy of two motors a side was nice. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until I can get any more 85A ESCs to get it running 4WD again.
* The wheels – these had major issues. Firstly, they would slide inwards along the manifold nuts (which I initially thought was what caused the jam against the chassis in the first fight). Secondly, at least one a fight would crumble around the nut, so I'd end up with minimal drive on that side by the end. Unfortunately the overall design needs wheels that diameter (125mm) to be able to drive inverted and self-right. Seeing what others have done and talking to them I've had some thoughts as to how I could improve them. Other options are trying to make my own wheels (tricky without a lathe), find some other 125mm wheels, or use standard red wheels and hope I don't get inverted (although that might also require a change to the chassis).
* The lifting mechanism – had some issues and then got destroyed, but was going to be redesigned anyway. Had enough grunt in the first fight to lift First Pick before it all went haywire (although I need to add outrunners at the front to stop tipping forward), but after that didn't really get a chance to do anything. The plan is to use a single motor/gearbox connected via chain to a live axle driving both lifting arms, I've already got most of the bits, just didn't get the chance to build it before Vivid. Although after seeing the size of other people's lifting motors at Vivid I'm worried that it's not going to be powerful enough. Depending on how it goes in August I might change to a beefier motor for next year
Despite all Zenghiaro's issues Owen and I both had a great time, and I'm also happy that I managed to keep getting it into the box in at least vaguely working order for all 4 rounds and the rumble, and that it didn't get counted out in any of them. I think Vivid was an awesome first event given that it was more of a demo rather than a competition. Everyone was very welcoming and helpful, and
Owen's fight using the bot Steve lent him
made his night. I'm already looking at accommodation/transport options for Nationals, just need to find time to do all the above fixes (and hopefully make a second bot as well).
Some photos
Zenghiaro ready for it's first fight:
Then after being brutally attacked by Repent
Duct-tape FTW! Zenghiaro's final form:
Owen with the giant-slaying Saw Thing:
Damage from the rumble and/or my poor drilling skills:
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Thu Jun 09, 2016 8:39 pm |
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