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Getting parts together |
Building the Chassis |
Installing the Drivetrain |
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Electronics |
Armor |
Weapon |
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Major burst of activity the past four days. I finally finished tweaking the design. Compared to the illustration above, the rear drivetrain bar, which was going to be welded in place, is gone. In its place are short segments of angle iron welded to the vertical members. This little change saved 5 pounds. Remember that while design is an iterative process, one should take the time to make sure there aren't any leftover assumptions.
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More money! $660 for four Victors and a second spike module. (The MSC is the lowest priority. Actually getting a fighting bot running is #1.) |
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After asking on the forum about the best way to cut steel plate, I went out and bought a Bosch Jigsaw. They're also highly recommended on rec.woodworking. I agree. By the time this job was over, I knew my little Black And Decker would have never made it past the first piece. Also the T-type blade connection is easier than the screw on type. It's funny, because I didn't really think of a Jigsaw for cutting steel, but with a good blade (18 TPI worked better than 22), or rather, a couple, it made really short work and it was far more accurate than what I could have done with my torch, or that cut-off attachment for the angle grinder, or the plasma cutter I would have had to rent. $150, and well worth it. |
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You've heard of CAD/CAM? This is CAD/PAM, for Paper Aided Manufacturing. I have an Epson Stylus Photo 1200 printer, which happens to take banner paper, and a few rolls of old teletype paper. After doing the whole set of drawings in ClarisWorks, I printed out portions to use as templates for cutting. A little spray adhesive, and then it's just a matter of cutting on the lines. |
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It's very important to make left and right parts. ClarisWorks DOES have a problem with flipping groups of groups, so you'll note the drivetrain isn't shown on the other piece. As you can see, the templates aren't exactly reusable. Chips get under the saw foot, and the paper tears. But it was meant to be disposable. |
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It took all day on Saturday, but I got all the "Vertical Armor" parts cut. |
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Sunday was material prep day. Here the front wheel pod pieces are clamped together and ground flush with one another. It makes up for the slightly wavy job I did with the jigsaw. If I were to do it again, I'd do like that demo cut and clamp on a fence as well. That was a perfect cut. The other thing you'll notice is the gray coating on the steel, with some scratches in it from where I tried to clean it up with the belt sander. That's called Mill Scale. I spent Monday cleaning all that up with a wire wheel in the grinder. Late in the game I discovered a Cup Brush was more aggressive and faster. Sand Blasting though is the best for parts small enough to fit in the cabinet. Then you can wire brush them to get them back to a shiny finish. |
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These are the short bits of angle iron that are going to support the pillow blocks. I put them all on the belt sander together to get them all trimmed perfectly to the same length. Later, I used paper with a template of the pillow blocks to mark where to drill, and drilled them as I showed earlier. |
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These are the cross bars, and clamping them together, I put them on the belt sander too to even them up. They MUST be the same length because they affect the alignment of the sides. |
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Perfectly even. |
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PAM in action again, marking the inner former (or bulkhead, I keep wavering on terms) for lightening holes. A pair of broken bits from a rare earth magnet from a hard drive are MORE (too much) than strong enough to hold the paper in place while I centerpunched it. |
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Some of the marks were not for holes, so it pays to mark them so you don't drill where you shouldn't. |
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Before and after. At this stage, the parts are the same, but remember, you DO have to distinguish left from right at some point. You'll hate yourself if you forget. By the way, those holes saved 13.5 ounces from a part that was 2 lbs, 9 ounces to start with. |
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Tuesday is the big day. In the morning I did those lightening holes, and a few others, in the afternoon, it was finally time to stop dicking around with small stuff and making parts and actually ASSEMBLE something. Note the scrap of metal and the clamps at the top to maintain alignment. |
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All the crossbeams welded in place. The pic of the rear wall going in was too fuzzy to put up, but that was next. |
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I marked the centerlines of the holes in the supports before I drilled them, and punched the point of the centerlines of the pillow block holes at the bottom of the block. I lined up the lines and the punch marks, clamped the support in place, and welded. |
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Same thing on the bulkheads. |
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THIS is where you convert the pieces into left and right. Can you imagine how much you'd hate yourself if you wasted all that work making these parts by making two of the same part? The trick was remembering to put the punches on the other side, after doing all the marking on the same side (That template I reused). I did that by flipping the paper over. |
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The Former/Bulkhead is installed. |
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Making the wheel pods. I actually made a small mistake here. The inner dimension of the pods is meant to be 7". The front plate is 7" wide. I wanted it to be on the front though. So I should have added the thicknesses to its width, or welded it on the inside. I did neither. But I can work on the drivetrain a little to make it fit. Those little magnetic clamps are great, but you DO have to check them. |
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Tada! Now THAT looks like it's going to be a Bot! It's 63 pounds. And miracle of miracles, it measures out square and flat! I have no idea how I managed THAT. :-) I built that in one day (After prepping all the parts). That gives me a sense of accomplishment. If I get my hubs back in time, I may even have it rolling next week. |
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