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Getting parts together |
Building the Chassis |
Installing the Drivetrain |
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Electronics |
Armor |
Weapon |
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Frankly, this is really painful for me. Strike Terror sat sadly neglected after Season 4. It was so badly damaged, there was little I could do with it. In the garage, through a NorthWest winter, it started to rust. In preparation for RustyCon (No pun intended), I tried to clean it up with Acid. While that worked briefly, I didn't know at the time the proper way to neutralize the acid, which left the steel in a very reactive state. That is to say, it began to rust immediately, and even worse, since the acid treated areas that hadn't rusted before. WD-40 and Silicone spray did nothing to halt it.
One of the things that impressed me the most was just how much the left front wheel pod distorted when it got hit. I took a lot of pictures (probably too many) just to try to get a real handle on the way things twisted, yet by some strange twist (pun intended) the wheel stayed aligned. That hit was the one that totally finished the fight for me, when 600+ pounds of combined weight of Robot hit one single spike at high speed from across the arena - the spike nearly penetrated the 3/16" thick steel of the side.
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After stripping off the weapon and the electrical system, Here's a top view from the rear. |
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The underside. Odd that it rusted so much, since it wasn't treated with acid. |
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The reason the fork leans to the left is because this is roughly the angle it was at when I hit LBE with it. Since I didn't hit straight on, the whole fork bent slightly to the left. This combined with the crush to the left wheel pod means the weapon and the pod could theoretically come into contact. |
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Even worse, because I neglected to put a top and bottom on the center of the fork, the whole thing became a crumple zone. As you can see, the weapon came within a 1/4" of striking itself. |
These are bottom views. All four corners took hits. The front edges of the wheel pods caved in at the bottom edge where the rods on the front of LBE went in from the first head on strike. The right rear (Lower left picture) took a spike hit that caved the back wall in enough to put significant resistance on the wheel. When Strike Terror was left on the Blue ramp, he was resting on the left front and right rear wheels. A countdown was inevitable.
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Right Front: Minor damage, still worked. |
Left Front. The pod was caved in to the point where the internal angle iron impinged severely on the wheel, immobilizing it. You couldn't budge it by hand. |
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Right Rear: Talk about a lucky shot, the spike lined up right with the center of the wheel. It could still be turned, but by hand, it was easier one way than the other, but by chain, who knows. |
Left Rear: Only minor damage. |
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This is where the spike hit. What really interested me is the way the side plate bent. The bottom edge, where the bottom armor was welded on, didn't distort. This ended up causing a sort of faceted bend as the varying lines of strength and freedom interacted with the point force of the blow. All of the top armor bolts on the outside edge sheared, and the heads scattered across the floor like so many bread crumbs for robotic pigeons, yet none of the ones on the inside edge sheared. The inside panel stayed straight across the top, and only bent where the bottom plate was welded on. |
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This is one of a couple of full length views to try to give an idea of how far things shifted over. The wheel maintained its alignment, but because of the internal angle iron digging into the side of the wheel, it was immobile. Just as well, because if the drivetrain could turn, it would throw the chains. |
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The long view from the bottom. It shows how the bottom armor helped stabilize the walls of the pod. This is the most important lesson right here. |
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Another view. |
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I'm amazed the chains stayed on at all. |
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Another attempt to show just how far it all moved. |
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The indent on the right front pod's front edge, from the first collision |
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Another view from the top showing how the right rear wheel got jammed. |
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Another view showing how deep the dent was. |
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This scratch was caused by the tip of one of the titanium rods on LBE. Because the rods were soft CP grade titanium, it actually left metal IN the scratch, which gave wonderful white sparks when I took the sander to the side. |
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Another LBE deposit on the outside of the right front pod. I picked up a little paint, I guess. |
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The burned out EV from the Left Front Pod, I believe. |
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Another burned EV, note the alternating good and bad coils, this one might have been locked down before it burned. |
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Those bronze bushings gave way under the setscrews, but the shafts didn't spin enough to save the motors. |
