Gearing up for Moto

woah.. weird..

1-31-2010

Drums are starting to roll out of the cnc.....well the first one anyhow...S7 is tuff stuff....

Well...it looks like Sting will have a pair of S7 drums for moto....just need to bore for bearings and they're a done deal.

Still working on the vapor bots.....It Stings will have a very hard time making weight with any drum...at the moment the drum needs to weigh under 700 grams...so....it looks like the wheels, pullies, etc will need to be very holy....

I would like to see the drum weigh in at around 1200 grams....need to lose a pound somewhere and everything so far is pretty tweaked..weight wise.

HELP !!!!

2-2-2010

What a pain in the .....

Trying to build 2 bots from scratch while redrumming a 3rd and tweaking a 4th is almost too much

Besides being in the process of selling my sc'd Miata (Big Gulp) and trying to actually get some real work done, this is getting tough.....

Made new drum holding brackets and guards for Sting's new S7 drum setup....Sting will now be symmetrical...no top or bottom...

Still fighting a slight over amperage draw on SOT while parts for the 2 vapors are falling out of the machines...lol

I've got robot overload at the moment....

RJ,

Welcome to club overload....

We here at overload would like to explain the rules before you get too excited...

1) You will not return to a normal life until all battles are over for the spring....
2) You will lose sleep just thinking about what has to be done tomorrow.....
3) You will never get the respect that you actually deserve for being here....
4) Your loss of sleep will turn into a paranoroid situation while by yourself....
5) Club overload only seems to leave you at certain points of your life when in all reality it is always there to welcome you back in....

But always remember...... The machines that cause this loss of sleep will at one point be sleeping forever once retired in a few years.

I have been a member since 2000 and have officially rejoined 3 weeks ago...

It's nice seeing other members joining me in this self preserving state...

Enjoy!

Frisco

Thanks Rick..I needed that...

Some more progress... slow but almost sure...

Modified the small drive pulleys...bored, set screw holes and lightened them a bit...so the wedge is coming in nicely under...might be able to do the secret weapon!!!

The drum can now weigh just under 900 grams....getting there slowly...need 200 to 300 more grams and running out of parts to lighten...

next up...holy Colsons, holy big pullies and bushings.....

sounds good, richard. And Rick, club overload has even steeper membership dues for college students... :]

I need to go from 30% to 100% done on my vertical disk spinner in two weeks.
oy.

That was one of the rules also but I seemed to feel that paranoia as I was typing

Rules??

There are NO flippin rules....

Rick...you have it EASY......not only am I making all the parts, but in the end, I have to actually DRIVE what will probably be untested bots and at a place like Moto...where it seems the heavy hitters go !!!

Poor Josh.....he probably won't even get to SEE any of these bots until Saturday the 20th...

or in a hotel room on the nite of the 19th...

Josh...I hope that you're a fast learner....at least the bots should be quick enough to make a fast getaway....

Here's a tip...slam all the sticks as far as they can go...and in any direction.....you might want to practice that.....NOW

HAHAHAHAHA..

I have to say that I dont have it too easy.

6 days a week and we have been putting in hours like 2-10... Its like an extra job..

We have been doing this for 2 months now.

Then add in the time fundraising and tracking all that stuff.

6 Robots and maybe 1 kid that has a mere idea of how something needs to be done.

Living an hour away from school.

Waking up at 5:30 to get to school on time...

Lets see that is 6.5 hours of free time to talk to the family pat the son on his back and get any sleep.

Plus coaching Indoor Track and handling a community video program and editing a highlight film for football seniors and a dance studio..

Subtract 3 hours a day from that and walla 3 hours of sleep per night.

Believe you me I am right with you..

Our bots will probably be done the day before we leave for Moto.

Ok Ok

So misery loves company...and we're it....

Life is tough and then you get hemmeroids......

My problem is with driving.....I usually go through a few all nighters to finish things up and then.....this explains one of the reasons why I can't drive worth a sh....

small update...wheels are done ...managed to remove 40% of their original weight...not bad...still seem very robust...Colsons..baby.....they are the schiznit...

wheel bushings done....2 spare wheels and bushings...hope we don't need more, cause it ain't happening...

onto the big pullies..they need to be pocketed big time...waaaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaaaah

I think that you and me are in the same situation.

I Just finished the axles and wheels myself last night.

Weapons 70 % Done and electronics are next on the agenda. The are mounted but just need the wiring done.

I think by Monday we should have robots that are ready to rumble.

Besides the weight factor of course.

We will save that for the last week of building.

It is funny that we try hard to find ways to lighten for moto and then the very next week we are trying to find ways to throw the weight back on for our regionals.

Can you say Holy Magnets!

The only thing I think we will be behind on is the FBS.

The group is just as lax as can be and I wont help unless they are here and willing.

Our kids have a competition on 2-13....and if they don't have their drawings completely polished...they don't go...

we are hoping to have the 2 vapors done by then as well, but at the moment it isn't looking all that promising.

even the 2 3 pounders need a lot of work...

It's gonna be tight...to say the least, unless a mircale happens.

On the bright side, 1 set of wheel/puley/bushing assemblies is done...yay...

the other set is close behind..so we are making slow but unsure progress.....

the vapor drum is not looking too promising at the moment...might be under 800 grams weight....if that's even doable...

must keep the wheels of progress turning or churning or whatever...good luck on your end!!!

All wheels and pullies are done for both vapors...

Work has begun on the drum(s) for It Stings....just roughing things out waiting for the final weight

Up next is fitting the top and bottom covers...D & T the frame rails...then machining a pair of Ti shafts..1 for the wedge and 1 for the drum...

They should actually start to look pretty complete by this weekend...

i want to help!

Josh Raichel wrote:

i want to help!

Well then ..come on down!!!!

I wish you were down here....could use some help...for sure

latest update 12-4-2010

Covers are fitted to It Stings....both bots now have Ti shafts and Ti washers..to hold them in

Will be side tracked totally tomorrow, helping out the MLEC crowd with the other 15 pounders from MLEC...they need little tweaks , tuning and rattler 2 needs some anti-fluffy repairs... supposed competition on the 13th...IN 1 Week !!!

Otherwise, It Stings could be driving around, looking for a drum....

The spin stops here needs secondary ops to the whole wedge front end along with fitting covers, etc...so it is a bit behind.

'It Stings' needs a FINAL weight sans drum before I can do the 4th axis S7 drum thingie on it.....blaaaaaaaah so it is moving forward first

It Stings update

brushless motor mounts are done, motor is modified and installed

Will hopefully be wiring it up later....have a battery candidate showing up tomorrow....so We may have life soon...will try to get the drum cnc'd tonite in hopes of it not being too heavy..wall thickness is starting to look thin.... as a 15 pounder, this thing should be pretty intense.....

the MLEC bots ALL need work of some sort..darn combat robots..always something breaking or getting damaged...why is that???

the mlec elves are hard at work....while the vapors and 3 pounders are mostly on the back burner for a bit....

but I do have a secret weapon...the night shift....

Glad someone is getting some work done....

State of Emergency up here and it looks like it will screw us up till Wednesday....

Probably no school tomorrow and another snow coming in Tuesday..

We are not even allowed to go in and work on them because of the state of emergency...

WOW this puts a wrench in my plans and the work that needs done.

I guess we will see what we can do once we get back..

The problem is we only have 1 manual mill and one manual lathe and 2 drill presses....

To work on 6 bots and try and get them to weight is pretty intense with the time sharing that needs done on those machines.

Lets hope for the best!

Hey Rick

I saw your post on the rfl....sorry to here that...try to stay warm and take care of your family

Best of luck in getting things back up and running

Thanks!

We got power back this morning so the warmth is good and at least I can get some soldering done on the electronics.

It's the weight factor that I am worried about!

I know 2 of them are good but the rest??????

Great news !!!

get them done

Sleepless nights and not much teaching going on in all my other classes.....

I have to be there when they are working on them or holes will be sideways and bigger than they should be.

I did get permission to go up there tomorrow even though there is no school so we should be able to at least get one of the days work back by being there all day!

Now we just need to get the XL's in from RPS!

Been 2 weeks and still no delivery????

It will be a last minute finalization of the last 3 that's for sure..

The FBS ???? 3 of them are coming up tomorrow so maybe they will make progress..

So far:

Doomsday will make weight but has not had a dry run with the new Shafts and Bars designs...

RockO will make weight and has made dry runs...

The Bar Exam is 11 ounces over weight and no dry run but should be testing and under this week....

To the Roof will be overweight unless some serious machining happens this week....

Radio Flyer (FBS) has many flaws that need worked out but weight is not an issue....

The wedge well lets just say underclassmen.... I think I will leave it at that.. May be the sleeper you never know!

Frisco out! (a little happier knowing we can finally work again)

We spent the better part of the weekend making parts/troubleshooting the mlec 15's..and all for naught, cause we're not going this Saturday....

2 days lost...but still struggling

It Stings is rolling around under its own power!!!! All it needs is a drum and some minor tweaks....on 4 cel, it's not that fast, but it drives straight and true.....

I don't need speed. Just a helluva weapon.

Josh Raichel wrote:

I don't need speed. Just a helluva weapon.

what weapon?? we're a pacifist team...no nukes... no nukes ...no nukes !!!