95 Hard at work

[mman1506]

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.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Nice work 95. I can see some similar features between some of our parts. Cough!

Mind if we send some parts to be thrown on the plasma!

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

[JamesCH95]

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!

[JamesCH95]

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

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

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

Mmmmm double sided pickup?

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Mmmmm double sided pickup?

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









....yes.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Pneumatic brakes to resist pushing? I like it.

[Nebster]

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.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Nebster

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.

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.

[JamesCH95]

Weekend update. Lots of assembly got done.









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

[Ian Curtis]

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.

[magnets]

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

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Ian Curtis

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.

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.

Originally Posted by magnets

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

Thanks!

[JamesCH95]

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:

[Answer42]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

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.

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.