User blog comment:Diotoir the son of nemesis/Robots that need information about them/@comment-25770073-20160422181630/@comment-25770073-20160422183305

All the information: "The Hornet is a lightweight entry into RW series 4. "

Diary:"3/01/01 I am very happy indeed. After a quick surf through the Executioner site I've come a cross an entire pneumatic system running off nitrogen at 1000 psi, which is very small (fits in a shoebox) and only weighs a veritably anorexic 800g. This leaves me a lovely 21kg for drive and armour, and a very effective weapon to boot. Needless to say I am absolutely extactic, anyone who wants to see it can go to the Executioner site. Meanwhile, I'm beginning the long and time consuming task of building the shell...soon. Right now I've got mock GCSEs (dammit) so no work on the bot till after the exams :( Oh, and anyone who wants to read the long lost Design page, feel free to click.

20/11/00 Arrggh! Almost one year and I've achieved practically nothing :( The gas tank and battery are fixed up now though, and at the moment I'm trying to draw up a revised pneumatics circuit. More driving practise meanwhile, with The Hornet decimating the chairs in the electronics room (much fun) and all the electronics working admirably. Much harder to drive than I first expected, as the brake delay on the ESCs make turning quite tricky. I'll also start cutting the body panels soon and will make it up as soon as I've sorted the pneumatics, which I need to phone RS about soon...

17/9/00 After a nerve-wrecking drill through the gearbox shaft the robot runs properly for the first time. It's all plain sailing from here - all I have to do is make the body panels and do a few things in ally to hold the battery/gas cannister down etc. Oh, and the pneumatics...

11/9/00 Once again, the lack of updates is due to my my idiotic forgetfulness to bring the pages home with me from school. Anyway, quite a bit's been happening over the past five months or so. I got it moving at last - luckily everything works fine and it was pushing a chair around in the Wilson's school design room (thanks must go to Dave Jones for organising an excellent event). The only problem is that I haven't put the pins through the gearbox shaft yet, so every time I drove it backwards they ended up unscrewing themselves. Meanwhile I'm on the verge of ordering the rest of the pneumatics and the mixer, and cutting and welding the body panels, which should make it look more impressive as ATM it's just a plank of wood with two motors attached :) I also want to start work on a heayweight called Poseidon, which I've been planning and designing for the past six months. I'm on the brink of getting a major sponsor for that, namely Spyrax steam, who have basically said you tell us what you want and we'll pay for it, which is nice. Website up soon; watch this space!

28/4/00 Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been on holiday and forgot to take the pages with me. Finally got a tank for the pneumatics, namely a Soda Stream cannister that stores CO2 at 60 bar. Apparently it needs a bottle connector to push the pin in, so I'll have to get a Soda Stream from somewhere and cannibalise it. Cheers to the Behemoth chaps for helping with that. Looks like it'll fit into the bot quite nicely. Also mananged to pick up a sheet of 6mm lexan to reinforce the front 3mm ally plate (like to see Shunt get through that). New castors have been bought since the other ones were far too big. All I need to do now is machine up the motor mounts and tap the axles, then replace the dud speed controller and we're off! I'm not predicting a date for motion, I always get it wrong...

20/3/00 Well, axle mounts finished at last. I've also got the axles finished, cut and mounted one castor and have ordered two UNF tap sets for the drill gearboxes. Unfortunately it now won't move probably until the end of the month. ESCs have finally arrived. Ripmax were out of stock of them so being the clever company that they are decided to cancel the order... So we had to phone them back and ask them through gritted teeth if they'd replace the order and GET A MOVE ON. Unfortunately, during testing, one of them didn't work at all, so back to Ripmax and probably another three week wait. In better news, found this bloke who makes dry ice for chemistry experiments using old fire extingusheres, so hopefully I'll be getting one off him. Also found sponsership for the regulator, so could someone mail me if they know where I can pick up a decent CO2 regulator?

4/3/00 Motors arrived today, and look very nice. Pictures up soon. Still waiting for ESCs, so probably won't see motion until 10th at the earliest. Wheel mounts will hopefully be done today. They'll be made from steel plate and are mainly there to support the axles if the robot gets picked up and drops onto them (which it probably will). I'm also planning to cut the axles on the lathe today (if I have time), and bolt the wheels to them. Another revelation is that I've found a standard C02 extinguisher will fit onto the chassis, so I'll probably get hold of one of them and a regulator for gas supply. The only things now needed are a valve and those ESCs... Ripmax are sure taking their time.

28/2/00 A lot of stuff's been happening over the past month. I've just gained a major sponser, Chris Leigh of DCS, who is paying for the majority of the electronics, which is great. I've also received the pneumatic cylinder, the piping, the failsafes, the receiver, and I've ordered the motors/gearboxes and the two ESCs. The ESCs are rated at 200 amp continuos, 800 amp peak, so I should be safe. In order to reduce interference, I've also got some 0.47uf capacitors for motor suppression, and I'm fitting a coli-type external aerial. The wheels have also been bought (2x lawnmower), as have two industrial castors for rear balance. Pictures of some of this stuff can be found at the Pictures section.

25/1/00 Well, not much happening ATM, as I've only just started this site. I've decided to rebuild the Hornet on the grounds that the existing frame work is too small (originally planned for featherweight). It also allows me to fit a weapon in, so go to the Design link to find out what that is and how the Hornet got its name. I've also decided to enter Wilson's Day, a charity event in July, as that should be great fun and good practise for RW series 4, which I might enter if I'm ready in time."

Parts: Steel Batteries Fire extinguisher (for pneumatics) Four channel FM radio system Regulator

And here is a list of things I still have to get:

Dual Conversion receiver 2x ESCs Motors (2x 12v cordless drill) 3 x Failsafes Pneumatic cylinder Pneumatic valve Pneumatic piping

Team Poseidon: Julian Corrie, Henry Pratt, Mat Taylor

Fought at this event: Wilsons day 2000