The floor plates are held in place by gravity - that's usually enough! The spark is actually one of the arena lights - its totally random but makes the video good so much better.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

UK Gladiator ideas:

After that unexpected gladiator win, I'm rating it as the best match I have ever been in - times 10 . Now I have to defend the title next year, Mr Mangle needs extra staying power and (as usual) there is a cunning plan. I found several 5 AH Lipo packs that will just squeeze into the battery compartment where the normal 4.25 AH pack fits loosely. They weigh around 200 grams more but I figure that I can take the worn Bisalloy beater and machine it thinner to get back under weight. Alternatively, I could use a 5 cell pack to save weight & space and have a heavier but slower beater.

I have a 5S pack to test with, so that's top of the agenda when I get back to Oz. Machining the beater thinner is another priority; it costs nothing and makes an old worn part new again.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

3D printing to the rescue (again)

One of the only problems that Mr Mangle had in the UK was worn-out weapon belts. While I still like the custom length urethane belts, they are made of thermoplastic and if they get too hot, they will always stretch or wear down. That happened when the weapon was caught on the pit button and at the end of the Gladiator match.

There is absolutely zero adjustment to the pulley spacing in Mr Mangle, so fitting a fixed length rubber V belt means changing the size of the pulleys or changing the motor position with a new mount or both the above. I can really save time by printing some test pulleys and motor mounts to try out a couple of the most likely belt lengths - that will turn a week long job into a couple of hours.

New pulleys might also mean more weapon power . With the current 2:1 reduction, the beater RPM tops out when the motor gets 60% power. I figure that it doesn't have enough torque to overcome the air resistance to go any faster. With a slightly higher reduction and higher torque, the motor might be able to push the RPM a bit higher.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

I've got a 2:1 reduction on Conker 3's beater as well. From the ESC's telemetry the amperage required to increase the weapons speed linearly means an exponential increase in power consumed; more or less.

Because C3 has toothed belts on both ends I can drive it as hard and force the beater up to the full motor speed, where as with your smooth pulleys I don't think it will go much faster even with tighter belts.

Your advantage in slippage also means you can't reach the theoretical top speed, where as I can... but I chew through 2.7Ah of 12S in 3 minutes!

Regardless, the 3D printed pulleys would be a great improvement over the current orange belts it seems, saving you time and busted belts.

I don't think the orange belts slip unless they either get a stalled beater (what happened with the pit button), or they just heat up over time and stretch, as in the Gladiator match. It is easy to see when they start slipping; the normally glossy surface turns to a rough matte finish like a soft pencil eraser. Unlike a regular V belt, once the orange belts start to slip, the problem escalates rapidly; more slip = more heat = even more slip.

There probably isn't much more speed increase to be had; either the motor will start to over heat or the battery pack will get exhausted in less than three minutes. More speed will be great in matches that are always going to be over quickly; with B2, B8 and Explosion you are only likely to get in one or two hits and they need to count or you will get thrown out.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

If you can get your motor hitting full speed at a point that matches your beater you should get a faster spinup too
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

Very good point, I forgot about that benefit. If you watch a video of Mr Mangle carefully, the beater does a little wobble back & forth before it spins up. I always wondered if that was the ESC being clever about sensing a stall condition or if the motor was having trouble moving the beater. More torque would have to help.

With eight improvements on the list, I am going to be really busy when I get home!
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

quote:

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Also are those floor plates not even held down?

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I found an alternate angle of the Gladiator match:


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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

And look who is making the most sparks in the thumbnail

Home at last! After 22 hours worth of jet lag and a head cold as well, upgrading Mr Mangle can wait until tomorrow
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Linac hack:

The cheapo linear actuator arrived today and its going to take more work than expected to upgrade it. This is what the insides look like:



Changing the motor would be relatively easy; the motor diameter is a common 38mm and the output shaft looks like 1/8", so a fast in-runner would increase the linac's speed substantially. I just don't see those small spur gears standing up to the extra torque for long.

A better solution is to replace the entire gear train with a 26:1 P60 gearbox and a 400W sensored out-runner like Mr Mangle uses. The gearbox can be coupled to the end of the linac shaft with sprockets and #25 chain, possibly with a small reduction is extra torque is needed.

The RPM of the final gear is pretty low - it can't be over 200, while the out runner and P60 will do 1,100 rpm with no load. That means the hacked linac should be at least 5 times faster. The original motor is only rated at 25W (assuming the Chinese spec sheet is reliable) so the torque from the 400W out-runner will give the linac more force, even with the lower reduction.

The problem is mounting the P60 gearbox in place of the original motor; there isn't quite enough metal in the existing plate so I either have to a sub-plate or replace it entirely. Option B might be to cut some of the original plate off and TIG weld a replacement on, assuming its a weldable aluminium.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

if you are upgrading the input that much is the components of the linear actuator itself up to the job?
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

Hey, the actuator cost a whole $40 from a random Chinese seller; for that kind of money, the acme thread & nut must have been hand forged from meteorites by Shaolin monks!

That's what I'm hoping for at least, the alternative is that the parts were hammered out of scrap by Shenzhen street urchins who happened to have a Shaolin poster on their factory wall.

I plan to use it in a 4 bar lifter, so only testing will tell how the parts stand up to abuse.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

I expect the motor in these things is a generic, 5XX (maybe 540), super boring low power specimen. Simply putting in a power tool grade RS-550 is likely to be a huge upgrade and take minimal effort. Or just fit a 28XX outrunner with a 1/8" shaft (the orange Turnigy motors for example) for an equally easy and ~250g weight saving option.
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Online store - www.ranglebox.com
Pulsar and friends.