Pictures from Saturday Series 7 Qualifying
The day before....
We had built the new 13Black using the old one as a testing unit, this enabled us to work on each section free of restrictions such as welding near electronics etc, unfortunately we got desperately short of free time towards the due date for filming...
We began the final assembly of the whole robot at about 7am, this was more or less straight forward considering we had designed it all and each assembly had been tested separately... but things have a habit of going wrong. BIG TIME
Like when you`re setting up the voltage supply to Iskra motors (24v max), being very careful, not taking any chances even though you know there`s a spare motor in the box, you slowly bring them up to maximum speed, run them for a couple of seconds... then one side slows for no apparent reason. Hmm, ok don`t panic, can`t be too bad..... ah, you`ve just managed to friction weld an aluminium drive wheel (no spares and 20 hours to build another) to the aluminium axle!!! (no spare). Luckily the axle can be withdrawn from the subframe with the wheel on and we manage to get it pressed out of the wheel with the help of a 40 ton press, but the axle can`t be used again in case it happens at the event so we source a new 4130 steel one with a bit to spare.
Like when you start tacking on the armour plating (it wsn`t needed for testing) and you run out of gas! more valuable time wasted...
Like at 10pm when it`s all finally together, you power up the discs and drive it forward... and it doesn`t go, but it goes if you stop the discs!.... Aaagh, you relise you havn`t charged any batteries - easy one really.
Like at 4am when it really is nearly finished, it`s sitting on it`s cradle, you`ve taken some pictures of the shiny paint and it`s ready to roll. "I just want to see the failsafes work and then I`ll be able to sleep" I said, so in goes the link and.... the self right operates!!!!. Link out, check the radio is off, check the failsafe FS-1 is in, change it for another, check the wiring, check it again, swear, try it all again. Same result. There are twelve relays in the circuit all soldered in (we arranged them in series to cope with the 36v needed to get enough power to work the arm) with no idea what the problem is we have to now build another pack.
Like at 8am when you finally get the self righter working again and you look round the work bay and survey the mess, it`s got to be tidy for the day shift and qualifying is in a few hours time and 60 miles away....
So situation normal then!
Queuing to get into the building.
Lining up to be weighed and photographed.
Inside the main hall, pits on the left, audience area on the right and also the shop on the far right.
13Black waiting for technical checks.
Tasha helped out in the shop and got to show off a jacket
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