Robothon 2007 - Melty B vs. Baby Blaster (Antweight)

[xzibit206]

Love it! So much so i'm drawing up plans for a 30lb featherweight version

[spambutcher]

@xzibit206 excellent - you've already probably seen it - but check out the Open Melt project at Nothing Labs website (google it) - it includes everything you need to get going.

[xzibit206]

@spambutcher Yeah your site was what caught my eye and got me inspired to build one. Ordered most of the electronic parts and most of them arrived as i was typing this reply :). I was planning on starting off with your program and then looking at how best to modify it for my own machine from there.

The current design will use a 400mm diameter 10mm thick hardox disc (weighs about 9.5kg) spun up by two speed 900s powered from an 8 cell lipo pack. Although I'm treating this as a prototype

[xzibit206]

@spambutcher Ran out of space!

I'm imaging a final version (if this one works) with a 400mm steel ring, powered by something like a magmotor for a decent kick! :)

[spambutcher]

@xzibit206 sounds awesome! I did a 30lbs using a mini-mag with Kevin Barker - mixed results. I would chalk up 50% of the problem to using too-hard wheels (consider foam if at all possible).

fyi - it's not "released" yet - but brushless motor support is now working thanks to some research by Richard Wong.

[xzibit206]

@spambutcher I was planning on using the bane bots wheels shore 30, those deform with finger pressure! Used them in my other fighting bot and they last one event but got a bit torn on the surface by the end.

I had thought about brushless as i used a scorpion 4035-630 to spin up a 3.8kg drum, nice results but i blew a castle creations 160A HV ice controller, not cheap! Think I'll stick to brushed initially for ease of operation but may consider brushless in the future.

[spambutcher]

@xzibit206 sounds good - there's a solid state relay on the Open Melt page that should be plenty adequate (make sure to shock mount it though - it can physically break).

one big piece of advice - when testing try to test on a surface similar to the arena you'll be fighting in (if it has uneven seems / etc) - dealing with tiny hills / bumps can cause problems for translation.

the wheels seem to be a balancing act between wear and translation. checkout the wheel comparison video

[alex789]

Hey, I am planning on building a melty 'bot. Any suggestions? I ordered the accelerometer, baby o board, and the darlingtons to make a test platform

Thanks

Alex

[spambutcher]

@alex789 two words - foam wheels. also - melty bots tend to be hard on batteries - especially if you run them till the voltage gets low feel free to contact me with any questions / problems you hit. good luck!

[h3adcrabbio]

kul