We do have to remember that jeffs house is rented and if in the near future jeff decides to pull out off robot battles or decides to move on we would be left with a considerable problem,which is still the case now with what we have already there, so im a little concerned about a slab of concrete
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i get 1.8m^3 like phil, nick you might want to check the calculation.
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Re the concerete volume; I ran the calculation in a different calculator and I now get 1.8 Cu M as well - that first figure seemed low to me, converting back & forth between metric & imperial was probably the cause.

I was thinking that the concrete can be poured with no reinforcing, since its not structural. If it is sitting over plastic, it will break up fairly easily with an electric jackhammer and we could take it out in barrows - probably only a little harder than taking out the existing steel floor and all it's supports. Let's work out the costs and then ask Jeff how he feels about it.

We could look at getting a minicrete truck, but it would not make it up to the arena, I can't see it fitting much past the gates. We can get some barrows to cart the concrete into the arena. which will still be faster and better quality than mixing our own. The actual concrete ingredients are probably the cheapest part of this; equipment hire, delivery, etc will be a big part.

Could always just lay down the MDF floor that Chris has already shelled out $350 for.
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Well, we could do that - except Chris is now unsure it will last more than one event, even if we paint it. We always knew that it would be higher maintenance than anything else proposed, but the recent vertical spinners promise to rip it up even faster than expected.

I'm just suggesting the concrete as a solution that is harder wearing than MDF and cheaper than steel. It has it's own set of compromises but could well offer the best combination of wear and cost.

Concrete sounds good to me too, floor ideas aside, I'm interested in the answers to these questions also:

quote:

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Originally posted by Russell:
Just wondering what happen for 2010
Events
competition
Arena
classes or leave of bots
membership
money
Have not heard the bottom line on any of these things?

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LOL, what do you think I am, some sort of club president?

I will work out an event timetable tonight, the money issue needs a bit of discussion. We absolutely have to start collecting entry fees again and since everyone got away with hardly any event fees and no membership fees either, we really should collect an early annual membership from everyone, which will mostly go towards the floor and to pay Jeff back for all the food and power.

I don't think there is much point to trying out new classes of bots - let's double the membership and talk about it then. Nothing is stopping people from bringing along a new calss of bot for a demo.

Haha

I agree on all these points.

How much ballpark membership / event fee are we talking here?

With classes, I feel that if enough people have built a bot from a different class, (well, particularly if its an insect class) and an arena is put together (or someone finds a table) then there is no reason why a small tournament for that class cannot be run alongside the featherweight competition, even if it gets off the ground halfway through the year.

I feel anything bigger than a feather is out of the question in the current arena, however, since it can barely withstand the current level of fury

Yes, apparently I'm planning to build something small - Funds for my featherweight plans are low, and I found a handy free source of small metal gearboxes complete with small DC motors at work

Before I go setting dates, how important is it to members for events to be in school holidays? I am hoping to start off the first round mid March, so we can space the events out a bit further, which is what everyone wanted last year. I have the schools terms printed out and they don't fit very well with our calendar.

I can't really remember what the annual fees were; something like $50 and half for students? If anyone can look that up and PM me... I am pretty sure that club presidents got lifetime free membership and a free hit at everyone's bot

I really like the idea of a tabletop arena, it would be something to draw new membership. If we do that, it should be sized to fit in a van. It would be great if we can make the floor from steel - it would last well and we could use magnetic hold-down.

I agree, tabletop is pretty easy, cheap, and we just select an 'insect' class and get some bots up and running and it can be an easy: "Well if featherweights look to big/expensive/dangerous/competitive then you can always try our small robot tournament!"

Also, i have a van. And some steel but probably not enough, and it sortof belongs to Bort

I dropped off some panels from computer racks last year and have even more if needed. They are around 1 sq meter and need very little work to mount on a wooden base. If we had an appropriate table arena, I propose we start with an 'open class' demo - bring anything under a certain weight (about 1Kg???) and throw in in, anything goes. Once we get a feel for the designs, we can pick an official class that everyone is happy with.

Still looking for feedback on school holidays!

membership fee I thought where $100 and $50 for students
Chris will know

I have been looking back through post for club fees I see that many post from many topics and the veiw to a new small class of bot has come up many many times with plenty saying and comiting to make one or more ................................................................................ the real question is why does it not happen ,,,,yes time and many other reason. We all say it the right way to go and then nothing.
Is it we are males and do not want to commit?
or
Shit scared of having our little bot brutilised?

i have made many small robots cause they are simple and i can make them in a day and have plenty of time to mess around with it inside...

If we were to go towards smaller class robots maybe some restrictions can be made to try and stop what is happening to feathers ie trying to survive the likes of scissorhands and such.. like a restriction on voltage and the type of motor.. a simple motor from a drill supplies plenty of power but limits the amount of destructive force that could be used if say a brushless was used.. not only is this keeping it cheaper, newer members wont be so frightened of building something from say meccano and getting totally destroyed..
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Russell, i reckon its just that we all got swept up in the featherweight class and havent really put enough focus on the small bots, and then had enough of us focussing on our small bots *at the same time* to generate enough current-affair interest required to actually get people motivated into getting something going. I'm going to make a point of putting mine together since i cant afford to get my feather sorted, and then hopefully between the rest of us we can sort out an arena and that will keep me occupied until such time as i can work on the feather. Once i've got a small bot running and an arena is made, im sure suddenly lots of small bots will appear (such as Dylon is referring to). I know you're saying you've heard all this before; but at least since i have no choice but to do anything else, and clearly my "robo-motivation" as i call it, is high at the moment (as evidenced by all this posting im doing), im hopeful that i will actually carry through with it

There are probably several barriers to overcome here: we found that running any small bots in the main arena is a fail - the tabletop could well fix that. Time and cash shortages affect different people - it would really help if they are not trying to build across several weight classes.

Bottom line; we need a small arena and a couple of pioneers to help us get to critical mass, then everyone will suddenly want a piece of the action!

I already have the steel and quite a bit of plywood to put towards an arena, so we would only need a budget for polycarbonate and accessories.