pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

rofl, great name for the picture

anyway thanks for putting it up, I've had the design going through my head and wondering how you worked it out since its so unique.

Well anyway how much does the chassis weigh? and what are the different thicknesses of aluminum that you used?

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

how much was the difference and strength in from your last years chassis? i never knew you used the foam stuff for bumpers, great idea.

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

I must know, who did the paint job!!!???

GO 1403!!!

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

I designed and painted it. The perimeter and all vertical plates are 1/4". The horizontal plates are 3/16". The whole base without anything on it weighed 9lbs. Last years frame got caved in on the ends. This frame took 1 dent before the bumpers went on while Tytus rammed it into our practice bot at full speed, about an 1/8". Otherwise it's incredibly rigid. Personally I would have made it lighter. Another engineer Scott (who welded it) demanded I make it all thicker. Otherwise the vertical plates would've been 3/16 and the horizontal plates would've been 1/8. If we use this design again, I think that's the way I'd go.
Man every time I check delphi there's another picture of our bot on here.

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

Whoa! Pretty darn cool.

From the looks of it, the treads used on the drive were the same type we used. Problem was that they didn't take friction too well and we had to change for a tougher tread. Were there any problems with them on that particular bot?

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

it's sooo pretty!!! great job dan!! finally saw it all @ palmetto when you all put it on it's side..and well as we all can see it's pretty darn slick...

great job once again swampthing!!

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

Why the #35 chain as opposed to #25?

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

I have 4 words for that bot.


Bow Chica Bow Wow!!!

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

One of the best designed FIRST robot chassis I have seen in my brief two years. Also one of the most original. Great job swamp thing on building a great robot and having a great season. Tytus awesome picture man. Dan awesome work thanks for answering the questions in this thread so far. :)

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

Dan, you forget that Tytus is on your team. There is no 2nd tytus, so who is going to drive the beasts that you are going to design upcoming years. :)

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

The perfect marriage of form and function. That beauty had some moves. You guys were great partners.

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

because 25 breaks easier. and #35 is plentifull in our shop because it is usefull for everything. drivetrain, arms, whatever.

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

Cool pic. I checked out that bot plenty of times at UCF and Palmetto, but never got the chance to get a good view of the bottom like that. Real nice metal work.

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

These treads were great. We did have one fall off after shipping at our first regional during practice. Maybe the heat caused it, but I'm not sure. 5 of the six were fine. So the one that came off we re-glued it and it stayed through the next 2 days of comp. Then at our second regional we changed them all out, re-glued but also added rivets to all of them. Those are all still on there now and holding great through nationals and some recent demos. Friction wasn't a problem.
Thanks everyone for the compliments :)

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

Awesome robot. I have a few questions:

Did bringing the four outer wheels in help make turning easier? Or was it just a side effect of wanting an octagonal chassis to prevent getting pinned?

Did you ever have trouble turning at all, since your wheels are wide (2 inches?)? I imagine that you did drop your center wheels?

Thanks for your time! Again, you've got an amazing robot, and I'm curious to know more about it.

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

Fantastic looking robot. Few questions though
What kind of drivetrain did you use. Did it have multiple speeds? How many motors and which powered it? Thanks.

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

I'm not on 179, but I do recall them using two CIM motors on each side, run through AM shifters with a 6WD setup. There's a teaser image of the goped wheels they used somewhere on CD.

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

swampthing is a 2-speed 6wd drivetrain. the middle wheels are lower about 3/8' by accident they were originaly meant to be .2" but the welding warped the frame. perhaps for the best. the front and rear wheels are in more as a direct result of the octagonal shape, Although this configuration put the wheels in more of a circular pattern and in my opinion increased performance and maneuverability. On Team 494's Dyno the top speed was rated at 11.5 FPS. the wheels have a coefficient factor of 1.6 on the competition carpet. winner of the Florida and palmetto regionals. it has truly proven its worth.

Re: pic: Up Swampthing's Skirt
 

A chassis this beautiful with so many interesting functional details really deserves a whitepaper. :)