Summary: The assembly process of my first BattleBot.
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About:
From these pictures you can see Nuclear Holocaust in its infancy. The entire framework was arc welded while the outer plating was attached with industrial strength pop rivots.
Because of the electrical faulting problem mentioned elsewhere in the site, no metal portion of the motors is allowd to physically touch the framework. It's clearly visible, in picture 1, how this problem was delt with. Oak insulation plates were made for contact prevention.
I would have to say one of the most difficult tasks in the construction of this bot was the seeminly-simple task of insulating the axels; keeping them seperated from the frame. Because of the design chosen to build this bot, I could not locate any kind of bushing that would accomodate this adaquitely. Eventually I came across high density nylon hose, this seems to be working for now. The problem with most materials is that they wear through relatively quickly due to the shear weight this monster puts on them.
The wheels are attached to aluminum axles by means of a filed level surface on the ends of the axles and a cotter pin. The rear wheels are from a lawn and garden push hopper and the front wheels, much heavyer duty, are from an old lawn mower.
A method of easy entrance had to be present upon completion for upgrades, repairs, and maintanance so this was taken into consideration during the armorment planning stage. Entrance from the top seemed to be the most logical so a "lid" method was incorporated by placing hinges along either side of the center support. The dorsal plates can be lifted up much like a car's hood for quick access. In the event that more open space is required, both dorsal plates can be removed entirely simly by removing the locking nuts holding on the center support bars. This can be seen in picture 4.
The color scheme for this bot was based more on availability than anything. It can be seen in picture 5. Sure my metal shop had lots of colors to choose from, but it was the quantity of those colors that would play the discriminating role. I needed a color that resembled something that would come from a radioactive mishap, say something like the stereotypical nuclear waist. So from what i could choose from, green became the lucky candidate. The orange also found on this bot was totally random.
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