New Bot For Next Weekend

A bit late, but I'm updating a couple posts leading up to MakerX Columbus Combat 2020 next weekend. First of all I'd like to recap Taproom Tapout and what it means for me.

Taproom Tap Out was a fairly successful tournament with 2 strong wins, 1 good loss, and 1 fight of me getting my shit tossed by a Weta. Since I already posted the video I don't feel like there is much more I can add that would be worth while.

The biggest thing after this tournament is that I no longer have any spare metal parts for Honeycomb. I've been working hard to get my new bot up and running.

The bottom image is not a fully accurate representation of the new design, didn't have a most recent render on hand.

List of changes: Old -> New

• 3D printed weapon motor mount -> aluminum weapon motor mount now attached to the frame with aluminum standoffs
• 3" total height -> 2-3/8" total height
• 2-1/4" chassis height -> 1-1/4" chassis height
• live 3/8" aluminum weapon shaft -> dead 5/16" grade 8 steel weapon shaft (also changed to roller bearings instead of ball bearings)
• side plates 1/4" aluminum -> 1/8" titanium
• 3" acrylic wheels -> 2-3/8" banebots wheels
• sprocket and chain -> belts and pulley
• polycarbonate wedge -> ar500 forks
• 4140 weapon teeth -> ar500 weapon teeth
• drum design -> new hex drum design which should be robust and significantly heavier
• no z-support standoffs -> z-support standoffs to help make the robot more robust between the top and bottom plates
• flat back plate -> rounded back-plate so I can no longer get stuck on my back.
• no side armor -> side armor to protect the shaft mounting point

Hopefully all of these changes will solve reliability issues, up damage, and potentially lead to more consistent performance across tournaments and throughout the day at tournaments. The bot was also redesigned to be 100% laser cut with the only part needing to be machined being the aluminum drum that the teeth mount on. I am also planning on completely removing the lexan wedge option and plan on potentially introducing a large fork/full wedge option to deal with some of the bigger spinners that have historically given me trouble in competitions. This would involve removing the weapon and all related sub assemblies and replacing all that weight with said wedge/forks. This modular option will not be ready for the next tournament, but this new design was created with this potential option in mind.