Week 5

Build Log: Week 5

• The Ball Shooter:
  • The ball shooter has been quite a roller coaster this week. We had it all attached to the frame and the chassis—until we realized the gearboxes were assembled incorrectly and the hex shafts were too close together (12 inches and the ball is 13 inches).
  • Therefore, we moved the bracket and shaft up ½ an inch and made the wheels with a considerably smaller diameter.
  • We also ran into an issue with the aluminum rod on the bottom getting bent. While the adjustable contraption works quite well, we must seek to improve the aluminum rod by making it sturdier

• The Hatch:
  • The hatch has made substantial progress. However, when assembling he did have to switch out the original pistons we were using with new ones.
  • The original one was a spring piston. However, we struggled with the piston being strong enough.
  • Therefore, we switched to a piston that had the regular two attachments to the piston to give us more power.
  • However, we had to mill out more of the 2x1, which held it on the frame.
  • Another thing to keep in mind is the rods, which it slides on. We had to tap both shafts and drill a center hole.
  • In order to keep it exact, we used a rubber holder used to hold golf clubs to allow it to be placed in the vice.
  • We then had a 3-D part printed with one side that attached exact to the hole and then has a layer above with a 5/32 hole. Therefore, we were able to keep it straight and on center.
  • From here, we decided to use self-tapping screws to attach them and worked to center the shafts perfectly as to allow for the completely smooth move of the hatch back and forth.​

• ​The Field Pieces:
  • We have continued to work on the field pieces, but have come at them in a new direction this year.
  • Many years, we have spent the first week working on these pieces. However, this set us behind extensively. This year, we have worked hard to prioritize the robot and work on field pieces when we have time.
  • We have finished the 2nd platform, created the first platform (with two ¾ inch sheets of plywood and a 2x4), the single bay side (19106), and are almost finished cutting the double bay side cargo ship or (19107).​

• The Climber:
  • We finished the climbing brackets.
  • As we explained in the previous week, these are very study blocks meant to be attached to pistons which will lift to robot.
  • The biggest problem we ran into was cutting the hole on the chassis to large. However, we fixed this by adding a bushing.
  • We did end up testing it as you can see in the video below, and it did work fairly well. Although there are a few kinks, testing will continue, and it works overall.
  • The next step will be trying this with bumpers

Climber Test

The Upcoming Week:

• This upcoming week we will be finishing up loose ends such as bumpers, field pieces, ball shooter testing, minor issues, etc. However, we will also be working in particular to finish the camera mounts in order to allow programming to practice more.
• We also need to make sure that we finish with loose ends ASAP in order to allow for auditions of drivers, drive team, and extensive testing.