Return of the Dalek

I started building this Dalek so long ago I can't even remember when... I think it was probably 2002/3.
Since then I've had half a Dalek taking up space in my basement, gathering dust. My recent visit to the Brighton mini Maker Faire sparked off a desire to do some creative things in the real world again, as I spend so much of my time in the computer world.
So I joined the Planet Dalek forum, realised that my build is a little at odds with the plans (no much in the way of plans available back in 2002 when I started). I thought I'd bash on anyway, and this week I've been working on and off on the waist section. With luck I'll have the waist sort of finished by the weekend, but it's fiddly work.

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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/

we're in...

23-8-03... we're in... Ok we made it. A horrifically long wait to get in, and then the usual hours of sitting around. We weighed in at 97.7 kg so I added a couple of lexan flaps over the tyres, and some bendy plating in front to stop us getting stuck by something spikey. Our fight was against scorpion, our chums from Nutley postoffice, Sir Chromalot, and a machine from some new chaps, which sadly got trashed by scorpions spinner. We had trouble with the pressure from the reg, and this stressed the flipper a bit, but it coped ok... though gave up a bit later into the fight. The Hawkers really gave us some zip, and we flew around the arena, not bad for a cellar floor special, the ncc 70's were nore than enough, though we could have used a bit more grunt for shoving the others. we drove out fine, which I consider a success, and were joint winners with scorpion, and through to Round F 10.30 am on Tuesday 26th... I nipped to work today and after hours of poncing about trying to s...

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