What material is best for a beater or drum?

beater- titanium or tool steel for axle?
- titanium or tools steel for the actual beater?

Drum- I'm assuming aluminum for the drum, but what alloy?
- titanium or tool steel for the teeth?

Beater's typically have 2 options the first is cutting it out of a thick solid plate of steel and heat treat it. the other to have very thick aluminum sides with steel teeth bolted together in a manner that the bolt are not under enough stress to shear. Titanium is generally not used because i believe that it is to soft to do any damage this is the same reason that the aluminum isn't used as teeth. The reason that it isn't used to make the side arm like the aluminum is that it is much harder to work with so it would be hard to get a good bolt pattern in there cheaply or accurately. SO NO MATTER WHAT MAKE SURE THE PART THAT HITS THE OTHER ROBOT IS STEEL preferably hardened tool. I have built many beaters and i prefer the cut out steel method rather than the aluminum steel bolt method. As for drum you are right about the aluminum body because that is what popular. But RJW has had a lot of luck with his solid S7 drums and that may be another option for you. But the TEETH ON ANY WEAPON BEATER OR DRUM MUST BE STEEL the other material just can't take it. I have seen titanium drums deform on impact... i have met any one silly enough to do aluminum teeth yet. I haven't seen a titanium beater because a chunk of material thick enough to machine out of would god awful expensive.

Anyone who was a century III mall botsiq please correct me f I'm wrong, but I believe fayetee had a full Ti beater and it tore through our 1/16 Ti armor.

Hypotheticaly if I could aquire such a nice chunk of Ti do you guys have any recommendarions as to how I would properly heat treat it and where I could get my metal heat treated?

Also, do you think solid 1/2 Ti axle would be as good as 3/4 hollow?

P.S. I also really like titanium. But of course i've never had to machine it other than drill holes or countersink it lol

sorry josh.... is the beater on redemption Ti? I was going off of what i saw on my friends Ti drum teeth. But if you have had positive experiences with it I am mistaken.

For a great drum on a budget...look at Paul V's ntertainment.

Steel tube with steel teeth welded on....you'll make weight and be able to withstand just about anything.

here's a pic ...staggered tooth drum



.I saw this fight live and the video soundtrack deosn't do it justice. The sound of steel to steel was just amazing. Also remember that in MANY cases , hits to the drum body will occur.

so an aluminum drum in a bloodbath like this IS NOT going to cut the mustard...jmo

here's a video of solid steel drum vs solid steel vertical blades


http://www.youtube.com/user/botman64#p/u/54/HSwkE9SB0nA

Do it right and 'Avoid the Pain'

I believe that Paul's bot is running a solid 1/2" Ti shaft on oilites, but look at the 1" wide bushing/shaft supports on each end.

On a side note, wheremost will take the win when an opponent is stuck, Paul doesn't leave Zandor stuck on the wall (in the beginning) or stuck on its face (later on)....He loses in the end, when he had at least 2 chances of winning by count out.....It's a code of honor type thing, I believe.

If you are using a drum you should prabably use 6061 or 2024 aluminum and S7 or Titanium teeth

alot of this depends on size and weight you are shooting for

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have never seen a 15 pound ALU drum bot take a beating like in that video and not tap or get trashed.

Certainly not any Plum or Bloomsberg bot in 2008 vs Hummdinger.

But, I could be wrong....

our drums held up fine against humdinger though

we taped cause the original designed sucked at driving inverted and our we lost drive to a side and were flipped

I'm trying to be informative not arguamentative, but didn't 1 of the shockbots have a big gash in it...I believe that you stated..compliments of Hummdinger...? On occasion, we've seen alu drums or complete bots trashed in a matter of seconds....example: Sting's hammerhead after 1 hit vs Jamo's cake , etc.

I guess that my point in showing Paul's drum, is that possibly more would have access to someone who can weld rather than lathes, cnc, etc.

Seems the least complicated/expensive to cut 2 or 3 pieces of square tool steel, a tube, a pair of endcaps and have it all welded up. Perhaps even with the typical alu endcaps with notches.

Plan B: machined alu tube, accurately cut for tool steel inserts, possibly nut bars, etc.

Plan C: cnc'd tube or from solid....ala Jamo, mlec.....time consuming, 4th axis, etc.

vs steel fbs, ss style horizontals, etc. I put my money on steel.

exception would be K2/Witch Doctor style bots with blades an inch or so larger in diameter...which protects the alu hub.

With weapons getting bigger and stronger and the fact that sometimes they stop spinning, I don't see a really big future fo alu as typical drum material....jmo

From the pic below, how many more of those gashes can an alu drum take , before it needs to be retired?

rjw, i have to agree with you - I'm not at all a big fan of aluminum weapons. Copperhead's steel drum made it a virtually indestructible surface for any kind of weapon - keep it pointed at the opponent, and even if it's not spinning, they have to deal with the consequences of hitting it. It's kind of like MLEC's titanium bricks - opponents will beat themselves up on the solidity of our bots, but we'll sustain little damage.

If your weapon is aluminum, it become vulnerable the second it stops working, so even if you have indestructo-armor on the other three sides, when the drum stops spinning, it becomes the bot's weak point. You're only protected on three sides instead of all four.