New Tank Builder [TANKS]

["Carioti, John" <john.carioti-at-sensis.com>]

Hello to all!

I'm new to Tank building.  I've been very active in Robot Combat for the
past 6 years, having built in every weight class up to 220 lbs.  But
early this spring I decided to try building something that doesn't get
smashed up every time I bring it to an event!

I chose the British Centaur CS Mk IV.  Since I had a lot of robot parts
left over, the size of my design is somewhat influenced by these parts.


For the drive motors I am using 2 of the NPC T64.  These are way
overkill, but since they were sitting around my shop, I had to use them!
I will run them at 24 volts.  Should provide plenty of power and very
good speed. I had some 12 volt 12 aH batteries also, so I will use 4 of
these to have 24 volts at 24 aH. I also had a Vantec speed controller
which will work nicely with these motors.

I am about 70% done with the tank.  The hull is complete, and the turret
is 90% complete.  I'm having some issues with the paintball feed system
(no surprise there!) but everything else seems to be working OK.  Could
only fit a 3.5 oz bottle in there, so I'll need a spare to last a whole
event.  I just fitted the bottle with an anti siphon tube. The turret
has its own receiver set up, so it can turn continuously with no
tangling wires.

I've just finished with one side of the tread/wheel system.  Boy that
was a lot of work!  Each wheel has independent suspension.  The drive
cogs were water jet cut from some 1/2" surplus steel.

I'm hoping to have the thing operational by the end of August.  I have a
few pictures on Photobucket: www.photobucket.com and type in k2zj in the
search images field and you should get the pictures.  I'm going to post
a bunch more in the next few days.

I'm not sure how to get the tank designated.  Maybe somebody can help me
with that.

I hope to see some of you at one of the events in the fall.  I live in
Syracuse, NY so the drive isn't too bad....

John
www.unyrcc.com
www.chihppermonkey.com