New featherweight

This is the new chassis for our next featherweight project. It's 50x25 2mm ERW . The lumps on the inside are the gearbox cages from 4 cordless drill motors, there's a copper bush through the chassis and the shaft is circlipped on the wheel side. If I can be bothered I'll gas weld some tiny nuts to the cages to mount the motors.. if not then I'll araldite the cut down plastic cases.
I have 4x12v motors to run this, and it's a bit of a toss up whether I run them at 24v using a pair of NCC 35 24v's OR the simpler, but maybe less brutal electronise option. I like the idea of the electronise, as we could then run trhe whole thing at say 16v, whilst still keeping all the components inside the central box... all under 80mm high. However the ncc's would certainly make the wheels squeal better, and I have some 100mm wheel options that would make it caper about at an alarming rate. The whole idea of this build is to be as simple and robust as can be.. if a motor burns out I can easily get another from FOCUS DIY, the chasis is a solid as can be, and will be even tougher when I plate the top with sheet steel, and weld on the side bars. I even have a stainless outer coat to go over it if needed.

Just need to get another Supernova to quick charge the battery packs.

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The weakness of machines

All of the robots I have built have failed in fights, and usually at the axles/wheels, it's like a running joke. So why should it be any different with this featherweight? Meathammer was designed back in 2005/06 when using 4 drill motors was a bit of a novelty... it was made more novel still by mounting the epicyclic gear cages directly to the chassis, which unfortunately sends all the drive shocks back through the gearbox. The original version ran for a number of fights at modelworld 2006? and even won some, especially the sumo, which favoured its very low profile. I've just rebuilt the gearboxes with all metal gears, and tested it, and it seems it should last for at least one fight… but as I put it in the car after testing, I noted one of the wheels had nearly fallen off. Mark that bolt for Lockthreading! All this got me thinking if I could make something less likely to lose a wheel, break a gearbox etc I have a huge pile of bits and bobs that were destined for heavie...

Fake Plastic Trees...

So, for a bit of light relief I bought a few of Justin's LED Christmas tree kits. I think the original idea was to have a relatively easy kit to put together on Saturday workshops in the run up to Christmas, but they seem to have become quite popular with all manner of folk. Anyway, the kit is based around a couple of well made pcbs, a bag full of components, and the simple instruction that +ve is UP. It took about 10 mins to solder all the bits together, and with a huge amount of satisfaction over the end result. Justin and his Christmas tree kits can be found here: http://cyber-lane.com/ The Build Brighton Christmas workshops will be running each Saturday from 30th November to 21st December from 10am – 2pm. Entrance is completely free. Kits are priced between £2 and £5. #BuildBrighton can be found here: http://www.buildbrighton.com/blog/

The Original team

Team killer carrot started as Team GM Farm, a poor attempt at humour, the idea was that the killer carrot was a genetically modified form of life... however this went down like a lead balloon at Robot Mayhem, so we stuck to Carrots, because the robot was orange.... and sort of pointy... feeble I know but what can I say. Dom (6)and Adam (9), the brains behind Team Killer Carrot, enjoy fighting, climbing on furniture and playing Pokemon on Gameboy. Dislike eating normal food, tidying up or behaving like human beings. Dom, alias Monkey boy is prevented from attending Robot Wars due to his age and criminal record. Adam, alias Dodge only wants to build a qualifying robot so he can get his club membership fee back. Rob (34),alias Zorro, (or Big Rob) Team Captain and tired father. Used to be a fox so cunning and free, now does a day shift at Plumpton College lecturing in Agriculture, IT and stuff, and a night shift as a freelance illustrator. Inept robot builder and vision...

killercarrot

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