oh man poor shiney

took me 3 hours yesterday with a 50tonne press and an oxy torch to get whizzbee roughly back into shape after those hits
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quote:

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Originally posted by TeamRiptide:
There's 40 this year I think, plus reserves - there's one day less and a lot of people aren't making this year's because of a certain high profile event the last two weeks from what I hear but should be roughly similar to last year!

Mr Mangle's looking good too!

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quote:

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Originally posted by Cpnwolfe:
oh man poor shiney

took me 3 hours yesterday with a 50tonne press and an oxy torch to get whizzbee roughly back into shape after those hits

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Totally screwed

I went over every single screw and nut on Mr Mangle and put together the smallest possible tool kit to totally disassemble the bot:



Even after looking at the kit for a day, I can hardly believe that's all it takes - its just not right to take such a small handful of tools! I will probably bulk it out with a multitool and a small visegrip, plus many, many spare parts.

Progress:

Two spare drive motors arrived and I also got new sensor cables that are a better length. The spare ESCs are programmed and getting their plugs soldered on today. Its still too wet to drive Mr Mangle outside but testing on the bench showed the drive motors stay cool with no load and pump out quite a bit of air, even though they don't have built-in fans like heli motors do.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Team RCC is giving it a miss.
Valkiri 4 ain't even started to be build.
Hannibalito 3 is an older machine that should be slowing down a bit. That little wonder is working since 2007, and still going strong.

WHAT??? There is still almost two weeks to the event, surely you can knock something up in time? I will definitely miss you.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Sorry Nick,

I could get H3 up to date, in 2 weeks. The new german IBF ESC/RC switch combo arrived yesterday, and the rest of the machine is is in fine shape after the ordeal in Russia.
Unfortunatly, €€€ isn't available on this moment. To many irons in the fire.

But don't worry. You'll recognize my hand in a few new machines that should be there.

Progress:

Yesterday was spent mostly epoxying spare parts like the ESCs and power links; Mr Mangle has almost an entire 50 ML cartridge of glue hidden inside. Today the power link base and it's bayonet retainer was finished:



It is much neater and stronger than the first version, with a larger handle for easy unlatching. Once I make a new roll hoop tonight, Mr Mangle will be 100% complete, with just a few spare parts left to finish. A neighbour threw out a pile of old computers this week, so I will test out Mr Mangle on a few of them tomorrow .

There are still ten days before I fly out for the UK; that's nine days for testing & one day to pack.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Problems:

I managed to get in some testing during a break in the rain; things mostly went well but there are some unexpected problems to fix. The weapon spins up as well as always and I smashed up an old computer:



The video is completely underwhelming; the computer just crumpled, absorbing all the energy and didn't go flying into the neighbour's yard like I hoped . Afterwards, I found that the rear bearing in the weapon motor has come loose and needs Loktiting back in to place before the motor gets destroyed.

In the driving test, the new motors give Mr Mangle a real spurt of acceleration, I might even need to use rate limiting or expo curves to keep them under control. There is an intermittent problem with one side or the other not starting up when the bot is switched on, which might be a programming problem.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so I am all-out checking and repairing tonight before more testing tomorrow.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

The motor is all fixed and better than new:



The bearing was just held in by friction so now it is properly Loctited in place. The windings are very neat & tight but there were some slightly loose strands so I wiped on a little epoxy to hold everything in place and prevent failures. The rest of the motor looks like new so the repairs should keep it working for another two years of mayhem and destruction.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

My flight out is during one of the Border Force strikes, meaning an extra long wait - thanks so much you pathetic fascists!

Progress:

Now that the rant is out of the way, progress is really good today. The weapon motor is reinstalled and the drive ESC problems are fixed or at least have a work-around. The problem is that the ESCs sometimes go into calibration mode if the throttle is slightly off neutral and if that happens the ESC is screwed up until it is properly calibrated again. Additionally, the calibration instructions are 100% wrong; I had to go by trial & error to find out how to make it work. The best work-around is to simply switch the transmitter on after to bot.

Now that is working reliably, Mr Mangle is all reassembled and ready for practise:



The wiring has been neatened up and I improved the electronics shock mounts with thicker rubber. Once everything is thoroughly checked, it will be time to tape and zip tie everything and pack Mr Mangle for next week.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Have you done anything to stop the front hoop from getting stuck on the pit button? I mean, it's pretty hilarious, so don't worry too much, just wondering!
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Online store - www.ranglebox.com
Pulsar and friends.

I have a cunning plan, don't you worry! (and it doesn't involve hiding in the pit )
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Can't believe that's been almost a year since you and Glen came over last time, and that this will be your third year at the event!
The robot's looking excellent as always, maybe we'll get a chance to have a good scrap this time round
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Jamie
RogueTwo Robots
www.rogue-two-robots.vze.com

With great power, comes great reliability

Third time lucky, maybe? With so many bots at each event, there are quite a few that Mr Mangle hasn't had a match with yet and Drumroll would be at the top of the list.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion