Our Bot

Mark took the bot to a band camp 'gathering' and got quite a response from band members and parents. Some Neanderthal points about the bot were brought up, i.e. the gender of the bot and the inevitable, what does it do? (Q:"does it run?", A:"No, It has no wheels", Q:"yes but does it drive?" A: "IT HAS NO WHEELS" Q:"well why can't it drive?", A:"we don't have a radio",..."ahhh, I see."... Why is it easier to understand the fact that it doesn't run on the basis of the absence of a radio, than the absence of wheels? we shall never understand) the engine still starts, (it has been awhile) and can support the weight of anybody standing on it, as to be expected. The idea of having onboard Nitrous Oxide is coming back to us, in the need of extra horsepower in a match...and It really would not be hard to do. Mark has basically taken over the job of updating the site, and the lack of pictures is the fault of CJ, we have quite a few from past days/weeks. Lastly school starts Monday and CJ will begin coming over more regularly and much more progress will be made...

Ordered a new clutch, from a clutch manufacturer that was founded my one of Mark's Dads' friends from his childhood, in Richmond, Indiana called Hoffco. It is a go-cart clutch but will function in well in our application. Now we have to figure out how to mount a 5/8" bore on a 3/8" engine shaft... Also some of the armour was sent off to Surface Technology, Inc... so some diamond coated material will be coming back to us shortly...hehe :-)

Today, CJ came over Mark's for a few hours before Mark had to leave again for... sigh... Marching band, (sigh... only six hours in the evening this week, so at least I can make phone calls) We looked at smith for awhile, various additions to the bot and the nice material from operation chocolate egg. We ripped apart an old edger and fired it up with the blades fully exposed. Inevitability, we began to throw various objects at the spinning blades to see what kind of damage we could do (Seems kind of elementary, but I don't care) We also made various phone calls to clutch, and brake manufacturers (Hi, Dave) so the bot can be put into motion. Lastly, a homemade explosive was tested... (we have video)

(Mark here) 04:29 hours...operation chocolate egg is in progress. 29 minutes later... success. Due to some legalities (and illegalities) the plan cannot be revealed here. It was to benefit the bot, and to gain some materials, which may be seen at a later date. Also the 'secondary' frame was mounted, for a firm/flat/solid place for the armour.

Wow! This week was completely shot! marching band 8 hours a day for mark basically put the bot on hold. I wanted to make some calls to various clutch manufacturers, but could not due to the 9am-5pm purgatory... I mean practice times. Also, a possible 2' mortar tube was found.

Smithy was moved to its final resting spot today! Mark and his dad had moved it to the basement with a well designed/crafted STV (Smithy Transport Vehicle) a couple months back. Now after renting a engine hoist, it was lifted the required 4 feet to get it on the bench. In the next few weeks, some of the first machined parts will be seen. Its pretty cool to see a 650 pound object being completely lifted with no effort at all...

The armour was received in the mail. It is big...nice 8'x3'x1/8" 1100 alloy aluminum sheet seems bigger in person than what you imagine. This should do it for the raw materials we need....

Received wheels and more metal in the mail today. A design for a new/better clutch was made by Mark.

We started out the day with high hopes. CJ spent the nights at Mark's so an early start could be made the next day. Mark, the day before made an axle with wheels, so an attempt to get the bot moving in a forward direction could be made. After witnessing a crazed mother screaming and helplessly beating her children (domestic violence IS on a rise no matter what people say.) We threw the bot into the car and went to our high school parking lot. We fired up the engine and, although expecting to chase after it, we were surprised to find it...not moving. We kicked it and watched it glide down the hill as we wallowed in failure. Saddening as it was, we went home to figure out the problem. The problem ended up being that the clutch was designed for a weedwacker spinning a string, not a driving battlebot. The friction was not good enough. Sigh... After spending the day attempting many modifications to the clutch bell, it never worked well. We dissembled the temp. back axle with much effort and ended up with what we began with a couple days before, but with depressing information. We were too ashamed to take many pictures. What a failure...

Mark found the receiver in the garage and hooked up the servo. Fired up the engine. It is very cool to be able to throttle the engine from half a mile away...and have it sound exactly like a distant chainsaw, hacking away at trees. A couple wheels (in the mail) away and we can zoom down the street in a perfectly straight line... no steering yet.

This is mark updating, so any mistakes for this entry can be directed to me. Anyway, thought it was time to mention (the interesting thing that happened July, 19) that we have been sponsored! One obscure e-mail to quote the price of diamond coating the tip of the proposed mortar came back with an offer to DIAMOND coat the entire bot in exchange for advertisement space. Woah...I was not expecting that. After a lengthy phone call, it was confirmed, any part of the bot could be diamond coated. hmmm.... armor, gears, projectile... We would like to thank Surface Technology, INC. endlessly for being our first sponsor. Many tests will be described in the short future on how the coating does to the endless punishment that we dish out...

Mark and CJ managed to get together. Finally. We put the back piece on. We also mounted the castor with pseudo-shocks. We put a linkage arm on the carb to be connected to a servo- as soon as Mark finds the receiver he lost... We also ran the engine on nitrous oxide (laughing gas...hee hee ha ha ho ho, but this is no laughing matter, Cameras ready prepare to flash --- Green Velvet - Flash [get the MP3]) . We have a video being converted, just wait for it. The engine screamed briefly on the NOX. It was cool, although, we won't be using it in the bot. We showed the bot to the neighbors and to people walking down the street asking what the heck the thing does.

Its 00:40.24 hours right now. Stayed up all night working on the site... ya right. Ends up Mark had a copy of the index.htm on his computer. He last went to the bot site before going to Florida, I e-mailed him before he got back-told him what happened. I asked him if he was last at the site before leaving. He said yes. Well he got home, looked in c:\windows\temporary internet files\ and found index.htm. Thank god it was the unupdated site. He e-mailed me the source, and I've been downloading techno till now. Updating this site the right way!

The webpage is much shorter now as you can very well see. It was deleted. Hope you like the new look. Mark- hope you have a backup.

Made some art as promised. Look at the new logo at the top! That's my good old graphic design talent. About as good as the background I made. Anyway, bot still works - I don't break stuff like Mark does. I noticed that stuff flies into the intake pipe. Lots of stuff. I grabbed a paper towel and made a few air filters. They work great - one was dirty within minutes of putting it on! The engine runs fine with the small amount of airflow loss. Looks good to me!

CJ attempted to fit the back part of the frame back on. Well, it ends up that CJ has inadequate tools for the job- can't cut bolts, nor can he saw. He did the best he could and filed a hole down for the muffler. He also spent an hour updating the site. He promises to make some art. Marks gone again so don't expect too much.

(This was the end of the site after the deletion. Thanks to Mark, a year of history still resides on this site.)

Exhaust and intake tubes installed, new servo location and fuel tank. Worked on the problem of externally fueling the bot. Also, something very interesting happened, and will be mentioned later...Mark leaving sat, cj coming back, no physical work will be done until next sun July 29... Also made a movie of the engine running in the frame. Watch the movie!

The fallout symbol was painted on the bottom of the bot. Also a large thanks flies out to everyone that helped us choose a name. The name we picked was.... well... SIEGE. It was going to happen anyway, personally calling it that for months. Also, pics of the newly rendered bot.

A trip to home-despit (home depot that is) for vinyl tubing was made for the intake to the engine. Also matched yellow paint from the fallout sign we printed and decided to put on the bottom of the bot. The engine still flawlessly starts and runs...untill Mark put the vinyl tubing on. The engine barely started and cut out when the throttle was increased. It probably has something to do with the overly long 4 foot tube. It will improve when it is shorted. Also the tube contends to kink horribly when bent more than 130 degrees. The use of automotive ties will help the kinking.

Obviously, not much physically could have been done during this week, due to the absence of both of us...although Mark won two large pieces of 6061 aluminum on ebay and bought another $50 from onlinemetals.com. A great new full-bot-support system was designed, by Mark for the axle and the frame. The angle iron will be fully supported, will not have to bear the weight, and increase the rigidity enormously.

Last day for a week and some, due to the absence of Mark and CJ. Marks off to filthadelphia to do nothing (good design/thinking time)..... Whoohoo! the engine started within the confines of the bot. The McMaster keys worked wonderfully and with the help of loctite and brute force the flywheel is solid. It hopefully is a an installation that will not give us any more trouble. Now we are back to running on the original crankshaft, alternator, head and flywheel. Sigh, so much for the other engines...so far. They will become a helpful soon, I'm sure. Now on to the drive train and making it run forward. 4 6"x2" colson wheels for $40 will be ordered soon.

Mounted engine in the bot with pullstart, pulled once key flew out, disengaging the flywheel. Mark lost the woodruff key, resorting to the third and last engine. Not good. Mark reverted back to the old engine and the bottom parts. At least the flywheel stayed on... until it too also broke off. This flywheel thing is getting old...A McMaster order was placed for 50 keyways (minimum), rest of the drive train parts, super strong loctite and a chain breaker. Engines in pieces by the end of the day...

Mark got home and fired up the engine, with one pull...beautiful. Figured the exact settings, putting them here for our reference, 2 1/4 for the high end and 2 3/8 for the low end. After starting, Mark leaned the engine to 1 turn, big mistake. It screamed, thought it was going to blow the head off. No flames, but the keyway disengaged, and screwed the flywheel yet again - sort of useable, but leaving the crankshaft unscathed. Well, now running on the keyway from the third engine...hope there are no more incidents.

Monday night I worked on starting the engine, but had problems with the alternator. Now the only original part on the engine is the head and the piston...Well, it is the same engine. Finally got it started (the pull start makes life a whole lot easier, wish I could use it in the bot)...may try... and tuned it. I finally got to the point where the engine absolutely screams. The video is only about half way to full throttle. The engine is scary at full throttle and it will be awesome in the bot. Unfortunately no flames out the exhaust yet, but give it time... Watch the movie!

August 24, 2001- July 2, 2001