Cut_Let_4

OK so the rebuild is in progress after our success at Extreme.

We now have a combination of 6mm and 4mm Aluminium armour, and a planned 4mm polycarb top cover. The batteries are 2x 7.2V NimH Sanyo 3000mAH from Technobots.

Weapons are now interchangeable.

We have a spinning disk as used on Cut_Let_3, and a new titanium flipper powered by a 12V mini-compressor and 63mm bore, 100mm stroke ram.

Speed controllers are the new microprocessor controlled Electronize 15A with external relays powering the 12V Gold motors.

Its looking good so far. Still need to add a pressure switch to stop the compressor running all the time and draining the batteries. It self-rights OK and can flip other robots no problem. The first outing for this version of Cut_Let in action will be at the Roaming Robots Red Nose Day Event in Nottingham.

Cut_Let 1

Cut_Let has appeared at two events (Gaydon and Gloucester) At Gaydon we had a lawnmower blade on the front which snapped off as soon as we were flipped over by Whipper. (We never did get to use that nice big red cutter shown below!). At Gaydon we used Electronize speed controllers running on 12V. We had an 8:1 reduction using a large plastic gear which had 0.08 inch MXL pitch(approx 2mm). The belt / gear combination was ok, but slipped on occasion which meant driving was difficult.

At the Gloucester event we changed to 24V and used the 4QD controllers from our heavyweight......WoW!.....What a difference. The speed and power was awesome, but those belts were slipping and shredding. A belt would only last about 10 minutes! So it was time for a re-think...........................................

C2

C2 is our second featherweight (Cut_Let 2). We have taken everything that we have learnt from the first Cut_Let and built a completely new robot. This time we have large aluminium gears and a two stage 10:1 reduction, 6mm polycarb armour, a 3mm aluminium base plate, 4QD controllers, 2 x 3.2Ah batteries. It has a wedge shaped front and a vertical spinning disk. We also have 3 of those famous 12V 'Gold' motors all running at 24 volts.

Initial tests are looking good. The robot is extremely powerful and has an estimated speed of 15-20mph. There is loads of torque and no slipping belts thanks to the 5mm pitch, 10mm wide aluminium gears.

The electronics box has been designed so that it can be switched from Lambsy into other robots. (To keep the cost down!) The picture above of the early build stages shows the approximate layout of everthing. The base plate has been cut into shape, all motors are running and the polycarb armour is made but not fitted. We may also go for 3.2Ah batteries not the 4Ah shown in the pic (Saving about 1.0Kg)

No pictures of the finished robot yet as I'm keeping it all under wraps until Kettering !

Cost so far :-

Gold Motors 3 x £12, 4QD speed controllers £170, Delbot interface £50, 2 x 3.2Ah batteries £30, Team Delta weapon controller £20, Polycarb FREE - Thanks Lee! Wheels £10 from Focus DIY, Aluminium gears £100 from RS, various bearings £25, aluminium plate and square tube £20.

Total : £461

(About £240 of that was bits borrowed from Lambsy, so I've spent about £221 over the past few months!)

Scott and Daniel will drive and operate C2.....I'm having nothing to do with the damage its going to cause!

Just heard that Cut_Let will appear in Robot Wars Extreme to be filmed in October 2002

DETAILS WILL BE AVAILABLE AFTER IT'S BEEN ON TV click here

Cutlet 3

More modifications required.

We are a lttle overweight (I think we have all had that problem!)

So the 4QD's have to go. They are being replaced with electronize 15A speed controllers. We have found the relays to be a lttle problem due to the excessive current our motors are pulling. I have replaced the relay with two 45A switching, 12v, automotive relays and mounted them externally. The controllers work very well and the problems have completely gone away. The controllers are not designed for the sort of current that I need , but their control circuitry is excellent. When you combine the standard controller with the relay mod it works a treat!

We have also added a new disk which does a lot more damage than the cutting blade that we had on for Kettering. Its a 6 inch, 6mm aluminium disk with some large tool-steel blocks on the perimeter.

At the Children in Need event John Reid from TerrorHurtz let me borrow some Nicads. We ran the drive on 14V and the disk on 24V. It was really impressive. Even with the disk on 12V we were lifting robots off the floor when we hit them!

I'm having a rest now until after Xmas and will use the time before the March event to totally rebuild Cut_Let again. This time with Nicads or NiMh batteries and stronger armour as Aargh made a bit of a mess of our shell in the last battle at Louth