Great work as always Nick, nothing is gonna bend that wedge

Its probably never going to bend - there is 3Kg of titanium in the wedge. Its still a bit of a worry that the wedge could be ripped off; I wish I had used more than four shock mounts to hold it on:





The welding is complete, now it needs some strong aluminium mounting blocks to secure the wedge and maybe some skids underneath to make driving smoother.

Looking at the 2nd photo has gotten me thinking; that huge gap behind the wedge would be perfect to fit a flame thrower! All we need is an arena with a steel floor...
_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Mr Mangle:

Mr Mangle had a complete strip-down for some gratuitous welding:



The longer rear roll hoop mounts works really well so its time to replace the front ones. the extra length will keep the hoop in position and may protect the plastic from saws>


_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Bot factory:

This is the workbench today - I count parts for six bots in production:



Mr Mangle: Almost finished, still needs the optional micro-v belt pulleys if the belts ever arrive. It is getting really close to the weight limit, but that is probably due to all the bits of other robots still stuck to the beater .

Shiny: Still needs work on the electronics, power link and the inverted driving wheels. The backup wedge needs mounting blocks.

"Next year's spinner": I haven't decided on a name yet; I might just call it Overkill. The frame welding is going really well; most joints are welded on both sides for extra strength and while there is some warping, its much less than the other bots so far. I'm going to run out of gas or filler rods before its finished but until then Ti welding is the most fun thing to do in the workshop.

Mr T: The gas system is all finished and waiting for a full pressure test. The steel frame is really pissing me off; apart from the waterjetting errors, it weighs too much and I still don't know why the welding went so badly. The plan is to get it finished enough for some flipper testing, make any design changes needed and then get the frame cut out of 3mm titanium - that fixes all the major problems!

Minion: The lifter gearbox is ready and the frame is designed so after the next event I will get all the materials and start on the frame. It will be using the old brushless drive motors from Mr Mangle, so that section is ready to go.

Sawnado: The wiring needs tidying up and the new camera needs mounting.

Three weeks to go, three bots to finish, no problem!
_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Progress:

The new micro-V belt weapon drive isn't likely to be ready after the belts went astray for the second time . In an amusing event for Trekkies, the belts were sent to Romulus* - who would have thought the US postal system went that far?

I found a new use for 3D printing - this tool grinding jig made it easy to accurately grind a profile cutter to make micro-V pulleys:



The cutter worked really well and produced this test pulley:



The 10 groove belt above is for jolt, the lightweight bot, Mr Mangle, Shiny and Overkill get six groove belts.

* Romulus, Michigan, just outside Detroit. Gene Roddenberry wasn't as imaginative as I thought!
_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Is there a Remus too?

Nice, what length and profile belt do you need? Naismith at seven hills have J section down to 15" circumference.
_________________
www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

I had a look at the Naismith catalogue - they only had 4 and 8 groove J belts and I need 6. Naismith have so many useful things, what are they like to buy from?

@ Mario: Given the legend that Romulus and Remus were the twins that founded Rome, there are probably many locations named after them. We have a Mount Remus here in Australia.
_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

They have a belt cutting machine there and they'll make you whatever width on the spot. We use them for work and they're okay. Just got some poly Vs of my own + custom 1/2 inch keyed shaft made ($70 for 300mm). Seems to be okay!
_________________
www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

Bugger! Their catalogue implied that other belt widths had to be ordered in. I will need some more belts soon for the other bots, so Naismith is my new belt supplier.
_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Sawnado:

The transformation is almost complete, just 120 new power LEDs to attach:



I tweaked the transmitter settings and took Sawnado out for a test drive today. It still has too much weight at the front to drive well, but at least its a little better than when the bar was fitted.

Mr Mangle and Shiny:

With the micro-V belts delayed yet again, I will leave Mr Mangle running the orange V belts as they are ready to go with no work needed. Shiny has a set of V belt pulleys as well but its less work to convert to the micro-V belts, so I will make a new set of pulleys and hopefully everything will arrive just in time for the event. To make the switch easier, The pulleys will be attached to the motors with Trantorque bushings rather than being pressed on. The pressed on pulleys are very reliable but there is no position adjustment or field repair possible - they are pressed on so tightly that I will probably have to cut them off.
_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Sawnado- love it😎
_________________
Miles Blow - Julie Pitts
www.mulesfilm.com.au
www.wombokforest.com.au

-Pickasso- Vivid Sportsman champion 2015

Pulleys:

I started on the micro-V pulleys today; with all the dangerous spinners entered for the next event, its smart to make a few spares as well:



With the slightly smaller diameter and the recessed side, the new pulleys will weigh a bit less than the old ones - never a bad thing.
_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

Big Belt Botheration:

The belts arrived back from the Romulan sector today, just in time for a test fit on Shiny. I used an on-line calculator to work out the belt length for the pulleys and it indicated the belt would be very loose with the current sized pulleys, so the plan was to increase the motor pulley diameter until the belt was tight.

The calculator was wrong So. Very. Wrong! The belt was far too short to fit the original pulley diameters and they have to be reduced, not enlarged. The motor pulley is already at the minimum recommended size of 38mm, so I printed a test beater pulley at 68mm, 2mm smaller than the pulleys I made yesterday:



That provides plenty of tension without killing the motor bearings so I will try to reduce the beater pulley by 2mm, it should be easier than making new pulleys from scratch. The tiny bit of good news is that the smaller pulley will weigh less.
_________________
Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

I've never seen the belt calculators come out anywhere near close!

I've drawn some up in solidworks based on the pulley PCD and worked out the length which was reasonably accurate - but in the end I've always bought belts either side of what I expect to need, jigged them up with pulleys on the bench, and measured the centre distance manually.
_________________
The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things