Actually that's not such a bad idea.
With the lessons learnt from the beetle arena is that possible?

I don't think we'd polycarb the whole thing just yet, just the one face and ply the rest.
but it'd make good use of a steel floor. Use the existing poly for the front wall.

I vote stainless, mmmmm shiny shiny stainless. ;->

last I looked stainless was ~1.5x mild steel in sheet sizes.

I'd suggest setting it up in jeffs garage semi-permanently but if we ever did want to move it then its possible.

The default structural element should be 25x50x1.6mm wall RHS, angle is the work of the devil ;->
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

Buy a trailer and commission glen for a month to build a fold out arena on the back of it.



Steve
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Steven Martin
Twisted Constructions
http://www.botbitz.com

GUHHHHH no more building arenas. no more *rocks in a corner* XD

I think the floor is okay. It'll take at least a year or two of events to render it totally stuffed anyway. The front wall however we definitely have to get sorted like now-ish. Better off spending the effort getting some more robots happening for more events!

Beetle arena... myeah the polycarb needs changing cause that somewhere along the line got ruined with scratches. The frame is okay in all honesty now we've fixed it but idk, Maybe just use it until something catastrophic happens with it or it rusts away. We should put a pit in that though because it's super easy and almost a crime not to.

OOOOOORRRR we could invest in a flatbed truck and build a feather arena on top of that lol. I for one would support that fully!

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3239/3025709885_7fe22270f4_o.jpg
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

quote:

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Originally posted by Valen:
angle is the work of the devil ;->

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Thanks for the info, its a real shame I can't get Hardox locally . I will get a quote, but its likely that shipping about 600Kg of 3mm Hardox to Sydney will be more expensive than 5mm of Bisalloy bought locally.

I really don't know about a portable arena; its a lot more expensive and the weight of it would make it a PITA to transport and set up. I remember that the Robowars arena occupied a good portion of Gary's truck and we don't get all that much out of holding public events with Feathers - the ones at Serial Space worked just fine with smaller bots. There is also the problem of storing the arena when its not in use - the beetle arena is hard enough to store already!

My thinking with upgrading the fixed arena is that we put in one solid weekend of work and then have a bulletproof arena that we can just rock up to at any time without constant repairs. That would let us consider larger weight classes in the future or allow us to run a proper interstate event.

The front wall definitely needs fixing - if we use plasma cut steel and 2 layers of 5mm polycarb, we could get a very professional look that would work better for videoing matches as well.

fairy nuff

One thing we really do need is some kind of air-stair setup or something. What we have now is pretty hazardous, (ask jeff lol).
Either we make that part of the wall open somehow or butcher a step ladder or something. It shouldn't need to be too insane for a wall opening, the MDF bumpers really do seem to take most of the brunt, just a gate style hinge but suitably robot rated with a pin to "lock" it on the other side.

I reckon for the front wall (however its made) we should put some foam tape or something under the polycarb, seal it up and stop dust getting in between the sheets.

I don't know if we need 2x 5mm? the "frangible" 3mm seems to be working pretty well really. Perhaps its time to replace that, (or polish it, glen want a job ;->)
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

With the polycarb, I was thinking that thicker material would need less vertical supports and we could do away with the top bar completely - that would make videos better as bots couldn't hide behind the wall as much. Two layers are more cost effective as we can just replace the top layer when it gets too scratched.

Do we want to alter the height of the wall? I am not sure is we should lower it for easier throw-outs, or heighten it for more safety...

Oh your talking about the inside wall, I thought you were talking about the big viewing windows.
you mean there's a problem having the front wall held in with duct tape?

Hah i just had an idea to shock mount the panels on valve springs, nicley rube goldberg, it also must make pinball machine noises ;->
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

Making a proper gate would be a great enhancement - I have also had a near disaster stepping over the barrier! I remember some of the details of the Robogames arena gate and we can scale that down to suit our set-up. Their basic idea was to key the gate into the floor and walls, then lift it up slightly to unlock it and allow it to swing out - sort of like a safe door. I think we can simplify that and still make the gate uber strong for feathers.

Springs? Pinball noises?? Draw something up! I can definitely see us scrounging springs from Pick & Pay less.

I don't think we need it to key in like that and I'd be concerned about stuff getting bent if we did.

I figured some kind of simple hinge then drop a pin down through the latch side of it, so what if we get a few mm of gap between wall and floor, provided the wall goes below the floor its all good ;->

The spring thing was a flight of fancy, I don't think it'd work too well in real life.
I was just thinking bolt the polycarb in ~400mm chunks into a frame with 4x valve springs in the corners.

( i had it frame > valve spring > polycarb)
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

I can supply 32 valve springs I think
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

quote:

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Originally posted by DumHed:
I can supply 32 valve springs I think

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Those wouldn't be 1UZ valve springs now would they?
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<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

could be!

most likely SR20. I think I have at least two sets.
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

Do you have any idea how much those are worth the night before Race Wars?!?
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<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls