FIGURE 6. Same shaft material before heating and after
quenching in oil (after being struck with a large hammer).
FIGURE 7.
Algos prior to
Dragon*Con
Robot Micro
Battles 2012.
McMaster.com and cut off
several three inch lengths. These
pieces were then put on my lathe
and sanded down until they were
able to slide into a 3 mm ball
bearing I had purchased to add a
second support to the shaft.
Once the shafts were sanded
to the proper size, I tossed
together a simple heat treating rig
using a large chunk of steel angle,
a steel can filled with 30 wt oil,
and the same torch I used to bend
the wedge.
The shafts were heated until
they achieved a bright orange
color and then were dropped
lengthwise into the can of oil.
Once cooled, the shafts were
removed and cleaned.
At this point, the shafts were
highly brittle and needed to be
tempered in an oven.
The shafts were placed in a
small aluminum foil cup and put
in an oven for 45 minutes at
approximately 450° F to properly
temper the material. The
tempering takes the steel back
from a full hard to a usable
hardness that will allow it to
absorb impacts without
shattering.
The final step in the rework
was to remake the center rails
since they had been damaged at
Clash of the Bots 3 and they
would need to be slightly adjusted
to accommodate the extra
bearing. While updating the
design, I used it as a chance to
add some material back into the
design to bring Algos right up to
the weight limit.
EVENTS
Upcoming Event
Fall Fling will be presented by
PennBots in Boiling
Springs, PA on
November 17th;
www.pennbots.org
SV
30 SERVO 11.2012
COMBOTs Cup Channel
Now Up On YouTube
COMBOTs —the annual robot fighting competition
( www.ComBots.net) — now has their own video channel
which features episodes of this popular event.
Commentator Stephen Felk brings his own brand of
quirky — yet insightful — narrative to well edited video
highlights.
The episodes are available at www.youtube.com/
ComBotsCup.
