cold arbor

First, I would like to say that I finished Ninjabridge.

It looks like this:

Yup. Back to a relay.

Ninjabridge worked briefly after extensive noise-reduction and ground loop prevention surgery. Sadly enough, it suffered a gate drive failure and subsequent Epic Shoot-Through at almost full saw speed. Nothing was particularly happy.

And so with the sun rising yet again, I pitched together this 12v SPDT relay assembly. It’s triggered by the previously mentioned R/C switch.

At least the saw works. Some more drive testing confirmed that my fears about the saw’s startup and running current pulling down the entire system were unfounded. Here’s a video of Arbor nibbling on some wood.

And a “pre-event” picture (not that D*C is a destructive enough event to warrant it, but hey.)

Überclocker

After putting all the screws on Arbor, I turned my attention back to Clocker to address one last detail that hasn’t proven fatal, but isn’t very healthy to ignore.

The bot’s drive chains have been getting increasingly looser as matches passed. The left side, in fact, has become so loose that the chain hits the ground on the bottom side of the frame. This is just begging to get snagged on something, or to make the chain walk right off the sprocket.

I’ve been meaning to put a chain tensioner on the drive since I built the bot, but never got around to it until now. The tensioner is just some simple bits of milled Delrin that has holes for perpendicularly tapped screws. I freehanded the vertical holes with a cordless drill, which brought back memories of before I was saved from a life of meager tools and hand fabrication. It was a heartwarming moment.

With the tensioners, the drive is substantially quieter. I would also venture as far as to say the bot is a little more responsive, too, since before the tensioners, the front wheels could spin 30 or more degrees before engaging.

If the chains ever get looser (Robot Jesus forbid) the Delrin sections can be milled more to compensate.

So now it’s time for a Clocker photo – I cheated a bit here, and actually took the picture before adding the tensioners.

And an everyone shot:

boxxy

No, not that boxxy.

This year, I’m going to be shipping down the bots ahead of time – which really explains why I’m working on them now and not, say, next weekend. Last year, taking Überclocker and support equipment as baggage cost me a cool $90 or so for overweight, oversize, over-the-top baggage fees. For essentially the same price, courier services will ground-ship an excessively large “package” from here to Atlanta in about 3 to 4 days.

Now, I’m defining “package” as “giant 2-foot wooden cube weighing 135 pounds and loaded with two (and a tenth) deathbots”, which might be stretching the definition some. But here’s the wooden box.

It’s made of some cheap Home Depot plywood (the same plywood, in fact, that Arbor was nibbling on. That panel became the bottom.

This time, I have enough overhead such that I’m actually bringing SPARE PARTS.

The bots go out in several hours and will hopefully arrive Thursday…