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Getting parts together |
Building the Chassis |
Installing the Drivetrain |
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Electronics |
Armor |
Weapon |
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Got a little carried away making mounting angles for the armor. |
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I decided I didn't want to do lexan all the way to the edge of the top, so this 2" wide strip went in along the back edge. It gave a LOT of strength to the back. Something to learn from. After it was tacked into place, it was welded the whole length. |
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Fitting the bottom plate. This in retrospect, was a bit of a mistake. That's a LOT of weight right there. I don't think that killsaw protection can justify one piece of metal that was nearly 10% of my weight budget. But I didn't think of that at the time. |
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One of my best welds. And it's on the bottom, of course. :-) |
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All the bottom armor on. That's a LOT of steel. Now, on the plus side, where it's welded to the edges got very rigid. On the negative side, look at the places where it's not there. Much less rigid. Hindsight is 20/20. |
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A bunch of those tabs mounted. If I'd used solid angle iron, I'd have gained weight, but also a lot of rigidity. |
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One of the top wheel pod armor plates added. You can see the heat affected zone on the sides where the drivetrain rails were welded in. |
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Getting started on the Lexan. I temporarily re-mounted the IFI so that I could get the antenna hole in the right spot. |
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Cutting the main top armor and the power switch door. First the sheet was notched for the column support, then I cut the door panel out. As a recommendation, they Bosch Progressor 234 blade is the best blade ever for cutting lexan. It has a multi-faceted tooth design like a Japanese saw, and it slices the sides of the cut, very smoothly. It's far less likely to melt. To make the right angle cut, I took a drill with a diameter equal to the thickness of the blade, and drilled a line of holes long enough to insert the blade through. I also used some clear packing tape to protect the surface of the lexan from the foot of the jigsaw, which tends to scratch. |
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Test-fitting the lid over the power switches. |
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Tapping the holes in the 2" back strip. Tip: I clamped the lexan into place, and drilled through both layers with the tap drill. Then I used the 1/4" drill to enlarge the hole in the lexan. That hole helped support the tap and make it go in straight, which made the Tap go in more easily than I have EVER tapped a hole. The white portion is a 1/8" deep rabbet I routed in the lexan to fit over the strip. |
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Routing Lexan produces an incredible amount of snow-like shavings. |
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The front armor is in place. Over the radio I added a second layer of lexan, just in case. I was thinking of something like Vladiator's spear hitting me there. Most of the other electronics, being mounted on the back of the lexan plates they were on had another layer of protection, but the radio did not. |
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OOPS!! Putting the armored chassis, the batteries, and boxes containing all the drivetrain parts on the scale, and it weighs in at 215 lbs. Now, at the time I'd registered Strike Terror as a Heavyweight - limit 220 lbs. You can't build a good weapon with 5 lbs left. And naturally, I found this out the day after the registration database was locked down. Fortunately with e-mail to Greg Munson and a phone call the next morning from Tine Munson, I was able to change weight classes moments before the tournament tree was set. This is how Strike Terror ended up being a Super Heavyweight. |
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While I was waiting to hear from Tine, I started drilling lightening holes. (The actual sequence of events was, I mailed Greg on Monday, got a call from Tine Tuesday morning. I said I'd let her know after I saw how much I could save, but after drilling almost 200 holes, I realized that there was no way to get enough weight back this way to have a decent weapon, so I called her back and said to go with SHW.) Still, I learned that for this kind of process, a Unibit is a LOT better for not wandering, and for not catching at the end of the hole, as compared to a regular twist drill. I think this is when I finally ruined my DeWalt drill, and in the "In for a penny, in for a pound" theory, I just ran out to Tool Town and bought a really nice Bosch 1/2" chuck drill. I figured the Jigsaw was good, the drill should be equally good. |
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Mounting the batteries was another challenge. I decided to mount them on wood, which I could bolt down. In an attempt to make them all interchangeable, I made this jig to make sure all the holes were drilled in the same place on all the mounting boards. |
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The batteries themselves are held to the mounting boards with outdoor carpet tape (VERY sticky) and for extra insurance, two turns of fiberglass reinforced packing tape, which I tested for heat resistance with a propane torch. The fibers held up to the heat until they were actually IN the flame. The inspectors at BattleBots accepted this test. |
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Since I was expecting not to be removing the motors again, I made sure that before I put them in, I finished the needed motor modifications. In this case, adding some capacitors between the power busses Note the pill bottle to hold the brushes in place. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the bottle to help it slip over the end of the shaft. |
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So now it's all a matter of bolting everything back in. |
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A slightly better view of the electronics all installed. This one is detailed enough that I also have a link to a full-resolution version so you can see the components.
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Here's a closeup. The reason I took the picture was to show the piece of polyethylene tubing that I cut down the side and fitted over the former to keep the sharp edges from cutting into me motor leads. |
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It drives! |
And here is the obligatory Bot-Riding picture every builder (Well, HW and SHW builders anyway) takes. Sorry for the cruddy color, it was taken without the flash and so it was too dim.
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