Harker Robotics 1072

The first elevator rails started rolling off the machinists assembly line so we got right to work. The vexpro order with the 34t gears that we needed arrived, along with 2 more encoders and some more versaplanetary 5:1 kits. Anand trained some people on making the elevator bearing shafts, and I think all the elevator plates were tapped… The robot is actually looking like it is coming together which is really nice to see.

We focused today on inventorying all our parts once again. In doing that, we found a number of parts that were missing / not created and spent some time cutting 2x1 to length, as well as turning some thunderhex and tapping it. Patrick was running the CNC the entire time, and only messed up a couple times lol. The first elevator rails should be done by tomorrow so we can start putting together the bearing blocks. CAD is working on a battery mount, as well as figuring out the linkage to raise and lower the intake.

Lots of progress was made on the first e plate! We cut out both plates out of polycarb, and layed down dual lock. Because we are using so many motor controllers, we decided to stack some on top of each other as was safe and reasonable. Because of their distance from the PDP, we soldered some extension wires and will continue to add them as needed. We also wired up most of the canbus, as we are waiting on the arrival of a couple of Roborios. We are also going to order some more 40 amp fuses, as we ran out. Overall, our progress is going quickly but smoothly, and we will continue to make adjustments per our mentor's instructions. Hopefully we can avoid the general electrical issues that plagued our performance at Calgames. Till next time!

With the first intake done as a model, we finished the other 3 sides for the 2 intakes across 2 bots. Patrick milled the carriage that holds the intake, so we put that together with the gussets so that is done. The bushings were pressed into the intake, and we tested out the rotation with the ½ round OD tube stock Anand got from 115. Sunny mounted both of the gearboxes to the other drivetrain. The field is about to be cleared out of the lab, which should open some space. From what I heard the electrical team also finished the first e plate which is gud.

We really started assembling the robot today with the arrival of our McMaster order. Rohan spent a lot of time milling the standoffs, and when they were done we started putting the intakes together. We had to ream out some of the bearing holes with Anand’s fancy new 1 ⅛ reamer which was pretty cool. We are now waiting on the elevator rails to be milled, along with the Andymark and Vex Orders.

We made a ton of progress today with the arrival of our McMaster order. With the steel spacers we put together all 4 gearboxes. The new tapping head thing we got was super sweet, and we tapped around 50 holes today. Construction tomorrow will really go into full swing. The cnc was finishing up our plates, and Rohan faced off some more 2x1 to go into the CNC. All the encoders were mounted to our custom 3d printed mounts which look pretty good. Excited for tomorrow!

Another day in the lab. We organized all the parts, wrote the part numbers on them, and marked them as completed or not on the robot spreadsheet. After misreading some of the parts, we sanded 4 2x1s wrong and will have to redo them tomorrow. The CNC is still pumping out the elevator parts, which is always exciting. The lathe was running once again and a lot more of the parts were created. The bellypan on one of the robots has to be redone since there was some metal caught in it so it didn’t make a secure hold. We should get our McMaster order tomorrow so we can really get some work done.

It begins! With the polycarb for the E-plate arrived, dual-lock (velcro like substance) arriving, today I marked and cut the e-plate to perfect dimensions. Then we started the process of covering the plate in dual lock and also taping up the components. We have found dual lock will be more than satisfactory for our needs, with both the ability to stick to itself (no furry/hooky side like Velcro) and admirable twist and pull strength. Will keep updated with pictures as progress continues.

The belly pan was attached and riveting to the second drivetrain today. We ran out of rivets again but we got some from 115 and should get more when our mcmaster order gets here. A lot of stuff arrived today, including our vex order, plastic for the electronics, and the cube covers. It took a pretty long time to cut out all 100+ of the bearings we ordered. The belly pan was completely attached save for a couple rivets, and we mounted all the wheels and chain we can. Over on the CAD side of things we fixed the intake issue so I am pretty happy about that. No pictures today, oops.

We finished CNCing the pretty much all the plates and we are working on the elevator bearing plates. They have been laid out really nice in CAM so it is really easy to cut them out and sand. The second belly pan had its pockets cut out and will be attached to the robot tomorrow. The vex order should be arriving tmr evening so we can sort and add those to the part inventory. The lathe has also been running a lot, as there are a lot of different shafts on the robot that need to be cut to the proper length.

Today was winter ball so we started at 11 since we had to clear out at 7 vs. our usual 8. The field is almost done. Both belly pans were finished, and most the plates were completed. CAD finished the mcmaster order. Not to much other than that.

Friday we just kept machining. We have been running the CNC and mill pretty much non stop the 11th and have made a lot of the parts. With that, we always have to have a student ready to cut out the parts and sand the tabs down so it is pretty loud in the lab. We have been putting together the big order for everything we need and we are almost done with it. We need to get those ordered ASAP! CADing has been putting the finishing touches on the robot…

Today we had another productive day. The machinists worked pretty much the entire time milling gearboxes. The belly pan was started, which took a while to cut since we are not using the cnc router for it. Programming finally got their offseason bot and were practicing current limiting and using the fancy versaplanetary gearbox encoders. The field is nearly done, and our big vex order is arriving Tuesday.