Re: 95 Hard at work
 

The hypertherm looks way better than the miller we have. Are miller broke down so we are hopefully getting a hypertherm to replace it. The miller took days of tuning to do mediocre cuts.

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

If you really wanted to, and brought the sheet metal over, I'm sure we could work something out. :)

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

Putting my CNC router to work making the 'deck' for our robot.

Setup details: 4'x4' Torchmate Small Shop Machine router table, 100IPM X,Y travel, 10IPM plunge, 1/16in DOC, 1/8in OD 2-flute down-cut carbide router bit, 24,000rpm spindle speed. This whole setup is considerably less expensive than a plasma cutter table, and can do more materials to a better tolerance, but at a much slower rate. All of this cutting was about an hour's worth of time, not including programming or setup.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K8_R...ature=youtu.be

Apologies for the cell-phone picture and video, best I had at the time!

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

That point during build season when you finally have enough parts to start assembling....

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

Mmmmm double sided pickup? ;)

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

No no no no no... that would be crazy talk...









....yes.

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

Pneumatic brakes to resist pushing? I like it.

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

Wow looks great. I hope one day my team will have the resources for a plasma cutter, it's amazing what you guys can fabricate this early in the season.

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

Thanks!

Partnering with a vocational school was the best move we've ever made. I strongly encourage other teams to search out vocational schools in their areas.

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

Weekend update. Lots of assembly got done.









http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjumH...ature=youtu.be

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

Are you worried about damage with the brake? I know 40 put a pneumatic brake on their robot in 2006 and it gave them so much trouble they took it off by Battlecry (maybe mid-season?). People just kept hitting bashing them over and over it wracked their frame since there was no give. Of course... your robot looks to have a lot less cheese holes than a Trinity robot, so maybe it isn't a problem.

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

These are seriously awesome. They remind me of some of the older 111 robots.

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

We are worried, a little bit. We have 0.125in chassis side plates waiting in the wings if the 0.100in side plates don't quite cut it.

What we did to address the strength concern: with the belly pan mounted the air cylinder mounts are very close to three points of lateral stability: a dead axle, the bent-up part of the belly-pan, and the horizontal part of the belly-pan. They are also not designed to lift the robot completely off of the ground. The four 3/4in cylinders can generate a maximum combined force of ~106lbf, so assuming our robot weighs at least 107lb the center wheels will still be sharing some of the load, especially sideways where the air cylinder mounts are weakest.

Thanks!

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

Slow day yesterday, a lot of planning, organizing, and tweaking rather than a lot of assembly.

Consolidated 6 compartmented boxes of electrical components into one nice, heavy-duty box:



Started populating and mounting everything in the drive base, and even a little bit of wiring:

Re: 95 Hard at work
 

First of all, gorgeous and highly effective looking robot you have there. I have no doubt this will be a great season for you. And pneumatic brakes will definitely be an advantage to shooting this year. But, on the same subject even if your robot is not entirely off the ground, the pads will still be making solid contact with the ground. Meaning that when someone hits you with your brakes down, the robot will attempt to go in that direction and your main resisting force will be the rigidity of the (what looks like) 1/4 inch steel shaft. Even a quarter inch of movement of the whole robot would be devastating to the straightness of that shaft, particularly if the brake pads digs into the carpet and starts to twist from the horizontal. I would recommend some form of linear bearings to prevent this from happening. However to be clear, I'm no expert and this is just my 2 cents based on what I've seen from using brakes on robots.