The wheels from Banebots get fantastic traction, but
they are very soft rubber and wear quickly. Buy spares!
A more close-up view of the speed controllers.
I have used some zip strips to try to manage
the mess of wires that invariably comes
from wiring a bot. Don’t be afraid to tie
down everything that you think will move
around. Nobody will ever give you a bad
time after you’ve won a match and tell you
that you have too many wire ties!
been avoided if needed. You could
simply use 1.5” tall aluminum for
the frame rails, and made the top
and bottom plates match the
exterior dimensions. The only
critical dimension was to make
sure the distance from the top to
bottom plates was 1.5” to
correspond to the height of the
motors and bearing blocks.
Available on the SERVO website
( www.servomagazine.com) are
the AutoCAD drawings (and PDF
files for those without access to
AutoCAD) with the specifications on
Mitch’s construction, not including
the wedge mounts. With 1” thick
aluminum across the front and
sides, there is plenty of opportunity
to mount a wedge in almost any
fashion you would like. I am
For a simple, quick, and cheap locating
method for the wheels, I simply stacked
washers on each side of the wheel. This kept
the wheel centered in the wheel opening, but
allowed some side to side movement of the
wheel on the axle.
ITEM
• Drive motors
• Wheels
• Bearing blocks
• Batteries
• Speed controllers
• Power switch
• BEC
• Radio
Parts List
SUPPLIER LINK
http://banebots.com/pc/MP-36XXX-545/MP-36020-545
http://banebots.com/c/WHB-KS3-298
http://banebots.com/pc/MOTOR-ACC/PB-S3751-BB
www.hobbycity.com
www.robotmarketplace.com/products/IFI-V883.html
www.teamwhyachi.com/MS1.htm
www.robotmarketplace.com/products/0-PBEC1.html
www.robotmarketplace.com/products/0-SPM6600.html
providing these as a guide
to making a simple and
effective combat robot
which you can copy
exactly or modify as you
see fit. The frame and
drivetrain minus the
wedge weighs in at
about 15 pounds, giving
plenty of weight for any extras you
may feel like adding. Our wedge
weighed in at 12 pounds, giving
us a combat weight of slightly less
than 27 pounds. The wedge on
Mitch is constructed of . 25” 4130
steel, which was cut and welded
into the final shape. A big part of
Mitch’s success is due to the shock
mounting I used for the wedge. A
wedge that is more than 1/3 the
bot’s weight is obviously substantial
for the class, but the shock mounts
really helped isolate the chassis of
the bot from the big hits from all
the nasty spinners in the 30 pound
weight class. The rubber isolators
are the only item I cannot find you
a link to the exact part I used. I
bought these surplus years ago and
like most surplus items, once they
are gone you can never find them
again. McMaster-Carr sells many
rubber isolation mounts though, so
you can find similar items, such as
their part #9376K39. Mitch proved
to be a tough little machine, and
was a blast to build and drive. Top
speed was manageable at around
8 mph, and was easily controlled. If
you have any questions on the parts
and materials used, I can be reached
at ray@hardcorerobotics.com. SV
MANUFACTURING:
Even More Things to C nsider
When Building a Fighting Robot
In previous issues of SERVO, I’ve
talked about weapon and drive
● by Mike Jeffries
systems in robot combat. There are
a lot of important things to consider
that don’t fit under either of those
umbrellas but still merit considera-
28 SERVO 11.2008