Friday, January 23, 2015

Robotic Desk Racers - Part 4.1

Today we left Racer A off to one side as work progressed on B and C.

It turns out that I was mistaken on the gearboxes we had installed on B. They were not 6 volt versions, they were 12 volt.  Specifically they were gearboxes from a "Raptor 700 Yamaha" kiddy toy. Of course this means the wheels we have on are not big enough.  So we have to overvolt the motors to 24 volts to compensate.  Off with the 12 volt control board and on with the 24 volt version with the Victor 883 controllers.

After a brief lecture on Watt's Law and how it defines the Promise and Perils of over-volting.....


24 volt control board installed.


Dummy proof, or at least, dummy resistant main power switch and power buss bars.


It has been a great help to be able to use the drills and drivers from the school shop.  Here we have Racer B just a few connections away from a test drive.

And that is where we left it.  I think we would have gotten her up and going but one of my better students had to miss the first half hour of build session.  He is some kind of athlete it seems and had to go for pre-participation concussion screening. If he started talking about the classes I teach (he is also in my Dungeons and Dragons group) they probably held him over for a few more in depth queries.

Oh well, next session we should have A and B doing speed trials.....

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