how far have you gotten on your robot?

[Andrew Blair]

A dremel bit is a bit for a small tool that spins at extremely high RPM. Good for grinding, cutting, etc.
http://images.google.com/images?q=tb...20mototool.jpg

Now, when a small, hardened tool breaks for some reason, it still contains a lot of energy. When it breaks, it shatters, and pieces, with lots of rotational energy, fly outwards, kind of like a sharp explosion. Little bits of shrapnel. When you use a dremel, you often end up putting your face quite close to the work, so when a bit shatters, it sprays stuff all over your face, including you safety glasses. I'm sure they had lots of little cuts too, but in comparison to what could have been lost, its very minor.

[gondorf]

Originally Posted by Andrew Blair

A dremel bit is a bit for a small tool that spins at extremely high RPM. Good for grinding, cutting, etc.
http://images.google.com/images?q=tb...20mototool.jpg

Now, when a small, hardened tool breaks for some reason, it still contains a lot of energy. When it breaks, it shatters, and pieces, with lots of rotational energy, fly outwards, kind of like a sharp explosion. Little bits of shrapnel. When you use a dremel, you often end up putting your face quite close to the work, so when a bit shatters, it sprays stuff all over your face, including you safety glasses. I'm sure they had lots of little cuts too, but in comparison to what could have been lost, its very minor.

hmmm dremel looks sort of like a recipricoal saw.

anyway that is a very cool mishap even better than the picture of a whole bunch of high school students looking at a burning motor and not knowing what to do.

[Jonathan Norris]

We have finished designing, and have been prototyping for a few days now. We just started to CAD everything, and work on the drive system.

[atomikitten]

Originally Posted by gondorf

which brings up another question: have you had problems with your robot/prototype? i mean something like blowing up or smoking. our motors started to smoke

Motors smoke probably because you burned them out by not gearing them well. There are a lot of other possibilities as to what went wrong. We could help you figure out what went wrong if you told us more about what you were trying to do.
Since the KOP came with a kit, we figure, someone has done the work for us. We'll try it their way.
We try not to build our own designs too early so that we don't limit our potential designs. We're in a brainstorming/designing/prototyping week. I guess we'll start finalizing in two more weeks. We hold off on 7-day work weeks until later in the build season. And of course, all weeks are paperwork weeks. Don't forget to go through the manual and get all of the little tasks done in time.

[Chuck Glick]

Originally Posted by gondorf

good point.

unfortunutely we arent able to get mor alum so we are stuck using kitbot.

we are still working on trying to make the motors work and i just found out that wheels cant be chemically treater for traction.

my school has problems with their robot

which brings up another question: have you had problems with your robot/prototype? i mean something like blowing up or smoking. our motors started to smoke

we had that problem with our gearboxes too...i figured out that the lock washer you put on the shaft to hold on the pinion was binding with the other gears...so we removed the lockwasher and just used the newer set screws that were included in the parts bag... try that and they shouldnt smoke.

[scitobor 617]

So far I've been programming like a mad man to get the camera up and running. I've gotten it to drive one of our old bots toward the goal and stop at a certain distance from it. Our ball shooter prototyping is done now and we'll begin working on the real one soon. I'm not too sure how progress is coming on our chassis but its atleast a day behind schedule I'll be starting to work on an inertial navigation system today

[ICE MAN]

my team has so far completed a entire mock up and working model of a old baseball pitching machine. so far we have been able to easily through the balls at 30-35 feet. we also have our camera pretty much worked and programmed out. so we are on a good course. now if we could only get the real robot to preform just as well we might actually win something. i will hope to post pics. of our mock up for the benefit of others. until have a great time building. and remember to "aim low"!!!!!!!!!!

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by SirCharles982

we had that problem with our gearboxes too...i figured out that the lock washer you put on the shaft to hold on the pinion was binding with the other gears...so we removed the lockwasher and just used the newer set screws that were included in the parts bag... try that and they shouldnt smoke.

This happened to some of us last year, too. We tried trimming the circlip down so that it didn't rub, but ended up just taking it off. We went through the season without a problem. In fact, we just stripped the transmissions for the first time since we assembled them last January, and they were perfect inside -- no visible wear. These are nice transmissions (although our left-hand transmission still growls just like it did a year ago).

[Ellery]

Well what worked for our team last year was to have a fully functional prototype by the 2nd Saturday. At this agressive schedule we would be able to improve the final build and have time for our drivers to practice. I would suggest to any rookie team to remember the "KISS" terminology and use what's given to you as much as possible to keep you on a productive schedule.

[dude__hi]

So far everything is working well. We're a little behind so we should have a completely functioning robot by Monday night.

[Unglued]

what's wrong with the kitbot frame?

we used it last year and played heavy defence, i saw no major wear.
(pictures are located at our website )
so far we have:

-a prototype shooter working on a large cim motor, but it's not fast enough and it could only score a goal from about 12 feet away and the max distance is a bit more than 30 feet. , it needs improvement.
-we built full size feild parts, center goal corner goals and ramp.
-we're arguing on design
-our custom wheels are being made, they'll be welded and ready to go by next week since we can't weld it with out mig welser, we'll need a tig welder.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

This happened to some of us last year, too. We tried trimming the circlip down so that it didn't rub, but ended up just taking it off. We went through the season without a problem. In fact, we just stripped the transmissions for the first time since we assembled them last January, and they were perfect inside -- no visible wear. These are nice transmissions (although our left-hand transmission still growls just like it did a year ago).

I don't know if anyone did this, but if you watch the assembly video from 2005 it says that the set screws will bind, and that you need to replace them with the included replacements...

[jesusfreakmths]

So far we have a basic design. we are currently trying to get our robot to move around with out ruining anything. lol.

Has anyone had there speed controller (Victor 884) start smoking and melt?

Anyways we are a little behind, gut are amazed at what we have gotten done so far since we are just a rookie team.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by jesusfreakmths

Has anyone had there speed controller (Victor 884) start smoking and melt?

Anyways we are a little behind, gut are amazed at what we have gotten done so far since we are just a rookie team.

We haven't fried one (that I know about) since last year. Was the smoke white or black?

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by jesusfreakmths

So far we have a basic design. we are currently trying to get our robot to move around with out ruining anything. lol.

Has anyone had there speed controller (Victor 884) start smoking and melt?

Anyways we are a little behind, gut are amazed at what we have gotten done so far since we are just a rookie team.

YAY! the magic smoke is back!! I haven't heard about any Victors smoking...you DO have it hooked up to the fuse block, right?