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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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VIC: Pre-Annihlator Builders Meet - 26th June @ SideTracked
Just a reminder to All Victorian RoboWarriors planning on travelling to the Sydney Annihlator Event.
There will be a builders-meeting at SideTracked on the
Saturday the 26th June at 11am onwards.
370 Huntingdale Rd Sth, Oakliegh,
www.sidetracked.com.au
..
Yes that is *next* weekend. the one after, its
*Showtime*
!
its coming up fast.
I'd like to see *everyone* there with their robots all tweaked tuned and ready to rumble. This is an open-day as well.. bring your friends, family and potential builders if you like.. Sidetracked can keep them happy and fed while we practice.
Of course I'll bet a lot of you probably wont be ready.. why break tradition by missing out on the desperate 3am last-minute rush-job to get the bot together before leaping red-eyed into the car for a mere 8-hour drive to sydney ? or trying to convince the airline cabin staff to let you bring your soldering iron onboard so you can finish those last few wires during the flight ?
But dont say I didnt suggest that you be ready beforehand !
(I may have to eat my words if *I'm* not).
Seriously though guys, try *hard* to be there and be rolling. The Arena wont be assembled, but we will have the pit-area to practice driving in, and I dont want anyone to break their bots by getting carried away in a bit of pre-match practice, but it would be really good to at least get some serious driving practice in, and if you aim for this day as a deadline, it gives you the last week before to departure to sort out any last minute issues, instead of trying to do it in Jeffs backyard, 800Km away from your workshop..
Gary also suggests that you treat it as a "Dress Rehearsal", and load up your cars with
everything
you would be taking to sydney. Spare Batteries, Tools, Spare parts, Chargers, test equipment, powerboards, pit tables etc etc... that way if you forget anything and realise you left it at home once you get there, you can make sure it doesnt happen the weekend after... and if it all goes well, you will have it all packed and ready for your departure.
any questions, give me a call.
regards
Brett
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Sat Jun 19, 2004 3:35 pm |
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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Well "Boys" I hope your Robots are all fighting fit. ours certainly are !
A good day was had at Sidetracked today. excellent turnout, and the Victorian Assault Team is looking good.. we basically spent the day in the pits having practice driving, with the occasional no-weapons battles and chatting, etc.
Looks like a confirmed *10* Robots heading up to chew some butt.. All your base *will* belong to us on July 3..
Heres the line up and the status as of Today (heres your list Chris Jon)
Inspector General - In Fine Form, Battle Ready. a few scratches and minor cosmetic Stuff to do, but could fight right now if it had to. Added reversing switch using the IBC's Flip function, so its easy to drive backwards and ram wth the spikes if the saw malfunctions. Added some Belly Armour to protect the wires and stuff.. A bit nervous about all these flippers, since its like a beetle on its back, but you have to turn it over first, and thats not that easy ! Feeds mainly on bunnings Red Wheels, but willing to try Colsons if there are any of Nicks about..
Scoopy Doo - Ditto. Mel got some good driving practice in today, and while she started out a bit slow, after she had chewed through three fresh batteries, she had the knack and was happily scooping away. Watch out boys, you'll never live down being beaten by australia's only "girl" driver. Everyone sure takes a step back when that new saw motor fires up, I'm sure glad you guys got your lexan sorted, since I wouldnt want to try and catch any blades if they come off again (hopefully they wont).
The Stainless Steel Rat. anyone who upset Mouse, look out, his bigger brother is here, and he's *pissed*. This thing is ferociously powerful, you know that sort of cartoon where a football player ploughs into a scrum and ploughs through knocking players in all directions like ten pins ? I can see Rat doing that in the multi-robot annihlator.. Eats batteries like nobodies business, but you can sure see where the power is going.. If more Wedges like this start appearing, we're going to have to get that arena terrain happening soon ! Fragmentor got launched 2 feet into the air when Rat did a full-speed charge underneath it. No kidding.. a wedge that can make other bots fly.. ouch.
Fragmentor. Ball Peen Mk II. Gary's construction techniques are improving all the time, and you can see it in Fragmentor. Very slick looking build, the hard stainless armour makes the thing look like a candidate for a car show'n'shine, and while I hate to say it, I think Inspector General just lost its fastest top-speed title. I dont know how he's done it, since its running Jaycar 540-sized motors rather than the 550's, but this thing boogies. We didnt see the hammer fired today (it wasnt mounted), so I cant report on that, but the word is, if Scoopy cant cut through your top armour, Fragmentor sure will.. something tells me this bot isnt going to have many friends after this event..
Ballistic. Not much to report here. since the Pneumatics werent quite finished despite the traditional 3am night before. very close though, and since Gary has worked as an Air conditioning tech at one time and an LP-Gas tech at another, I dont expect that its likely there will be much he's missed in this area. some Novel design innovations here with suspension, dual weapons, teeth and awesome battery life, it spent plenty of time driving around and is 95% ready. Parachutes highly reccomended !
MiniMower was lurching about the place. looking a bit battered and in need of a paint job, it was still humming around sweetly, and matt & rob seem to be getting a handle on making its renoknowned twitchy steering go where they want it to, despite me having to growl at them a couple of times, as they plowed into the area with the expensive battery chargers humming away refilling the flatteries. Dont write MiniMower off, it has yet to show its best after poor radio performance at sidetracked.
Pinscher is becoming a bot with quite a bit of personality to it. How much of it is George's I'm not sure we want to know.. It ran around reliably enough during the day and despite the temptation to pat its head as it snapped and frolicked around, its a bot that can turn nasty on you at moments notice, as IG can attest being shoved all around the ring once his saw broke. The jaws move fast, and while they wont be grinding any molars to pieces with force, they could prove a nuisance, doubling as a lifter and a clamp. Wait for the alternate personailty to surpise you..
Battle Damage is a nicely made bot, that has plenty of potential, if Jason will just stop wiring it at 3am the night before, and put some screws on his wheels so they stop falling off afer moving 3 feet ("ah who cares, its got 3 more !"), then it might be a dark horse in the competition. unproven pneumatics though. nicely made, needs some time to "Get it all together".. will Jason find it ?
ArachnoPhobia was a no-show. David did appear and confirmed hes bringing it, and that he lots of work either has been or will be (in 6 days ?) done it to be ready for the annihlator. He does good work, so again, if he gets it all together, expect to see what is undoubtably one of the most visually appealing robots we've seen yet, although his lack of driving experience may be his undoing.
KO thundered around the pits in its usual straight-as-an-arrow style. Recently equipped with the Jinxed IBC from Unco, it cruised around for a while, then suddenly stopped. Yes, the switchmode regulator had blown *again*. (Thats about number 4). maybe poor Unco wasnt doing anything wrong after all ?
Mind you, I did test it for *ages* on IG before returning to andrew last time, weapon and all without trouble, so FIIK whats going on. Since Tim is running 24v, we can bypass this cranky switchmode regulator and just run the linear regulator, which should get him running reliably for the annihlator. a Visit to Jason tomorrow should see Tim smiling again.
and that about covers the vic assault team members who will be attending.
Neweyn is just due to return from being out in whoop-whop somewhere this week, so No.5 and "The New Project" wont be coming, I dont think Sam (eyce) has been able to convinve dad to drive him to sydney, so they will be likely preapring for the next RoboWars
That about covers it from my point of view. anyone else got anything to add ?
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Sun Jun 27, 2004 12:13 am |
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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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quote:
Originally posted by andrew:
Anywho, i want a refund then for all the faultyness. Nah just kidding Brett. I hope u can get it running for Tim and all.
Well, if it turns out that there is some other intermittantly faulty component that has been causing the repeated switchmode blow up's that we've missed, then it will certainly be covered under warranty and repaired free of charge.. as for refunds, I think you only paid for the first repair IIRC, havent we done all the rest for free so far ?
quote:
Originally posted by andrew:
Also at ahnialator is there going to be any prizes and all. Is there going to be any IBC's up for grabs or any Nick's mounts or any money prizes/coupons to jaycar or something. Or just a trophy and a well done.
Prizes are nice, since they add a level of seriousness to the competition and give you a target to aim for, also helps you feel that all the damage and repair costs you have to deal with were worth it in pursuit of something tangible, although I think bragging rights are the most important aspect to many drivers.. Prizes have to be paid for by someone though.. In fact I think I might start a thread about that..
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Sun Jun 27, 2004 11:45 am |
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