Position the front plate
accurately on your drill press using
a tapered pin made from the shank
of an old drill (see Figure 3). This
will keep the new mounting points
accurately in position; important if
you have a pre-made gearbox to fit.
Drill each of the mounting holes
out to fit your preferred screw size;
5 mm for M6 and #17 for 12-24
sized screws.
Tap the new holes and take
extra care to remove all the swarf
from the inside of the plate; you
don’t want conductive chips falling
into the armature! Re-assemble the
motor as detailed in previous tips; if
you combine this tip with the
stronger case screw tip, you will
have one tough motor.
Neutral Timing
Mag motors can be timed
slightly advanced or retarded,
although I find that advanced timing
makes hardly any difference so I
leave them neutrally timed. If you
want to experiment or need to
adjust the timing after repairs, here
is the quick way to do it. Mark a line
along the case so it meets the rear
end bell, as shown in Figure 1. With
the case screws loosened enough to
just turn the case, rotate the
case left until the screws touch a
magnet. Mark the position of your
line on the rim of the endbell. Now
rotate the case left until the screws
stop on the opposite magnets.
Mark this position on the endbell
rim. The marks on the rim represent
the extremes of forward and
reverse timing; draw a line midway
between your two extremes
and this is your neutral timing
position — too easy! SV
You can contact Nick via his build thread at
www.robowars.org/forum/viewtopic.php
?t= 74&start=0.
EVENTS
Results and Upcoming Events
Results Apr 14 –
May 12, 2008
HORD
Spring
2008 was held
in Brecksville,
OH on April
19th. Twenty-five bots were registered.
Rotunda Rumble was held at the
Mall Of America in Minneapolis,
MN on April 25th. Twenty-seven
bots were registered.
Smackdown in Sactown IV
was held on April 27th in
Sacramento, CA. Eight bots were
registered.
BotsIQ: The Competition 2008
was held April 30th–May 4th in
Miami Beach, FL. One hundred
thirty-five bots were entered.
Roaming Robots presented
Fenton Manor 2008 on May 4th
in Stoke On Trent, England.
Upcoming Events for
July-August 2008
D. W. Robots will
present
Pennsylvania Bot
Blast 2008 in Bloomsburg, PA on
July 12th. Seventeen bots were
registered at press time. For more
details, go to www.dwrobots.
com/ tournament.html.
War-Bots
Xtreme
will present
WBX-V
“Taking the
Fifth” on July
26th in
Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, Canada. Nineteen
bots were registered at press time.
For more details, go to www.war
botsxtreme.com.
The North East Robotics Club will
present House of Benson –
Barnyard Brawl in Winchendon, MA,
on July 26th. Thirty-six bots were
registered at press time. For more
details, go to www.nerc.us.
Roaming
Robots
will present
Guildford
2008 in
Guildford, England on June 15th,
and UK Champs 08/RAF Fairford in
Gloucestershire, England on July
12th and 13th. For more details, go
to www.roamingrobots.co.uk.
RoboCore will present Winter
Challenge 4th Edition in
Amparo, Sao Paulo, Brazil on
July 26th–27th. SV
SERVO 07.2008 33