Near Chaos Robotics MicroSwitch Assembly

Here's the full process for assembling one of the tiny MicroSwitch's I've designed. Assembled with a few inches of wire on each side they weigh in at 6.7g. The main body is 1/4" thick (4 layers of 1/16" material) and 0.65 x 0.5875". I suggest a small flathead driver that fits snugly into the slot with an insulated handle for operation.

Here's the pile of parts you start with for two complete switches.

The contacts have been prepped with small solder bulges to improve contact.

Wires have been soldered to the output side. This is done prior to assembly to avoid melting the delrin housing.

The 2-56 screws are threaded through the bottom plate by at least 1/8" to allow the next two layers of delrin to slide into place. (the top and bottom layers have a smaller hole diameter and help keep the switch together prior to the addition of nuts or attachment to threaded holes in the robot.)

Layer two is added.

The output contacts are slid into place with the solder bumps facing up.

The 3rd layer of delrin is added.

The copper paddle switch is dropped in over the output contacts.

The last layer is added and the 2-56 screws are threaded completely through the body. At this point you add 4 2-56 nuts or screw the switch into pre-tapped holes in whatever mount solution you are using.

This is the on position. (slot is inline with outputs)

This is the off position. (slot is at roughly 45deg angle from outputs)

Motorama 2012 Wrap-up

Quick update for now, video will appear at http://www.youtube.com/user/mikencr.

Motor City Massacre: 1-2, still working but probably getting a complete redesign/rebuild. Julie wants something more destructive, so this robot is likely to be retired.

Kobalos: 6-2, placed second. Looking pretty rough but still running. I'm also intending to build a new 1lb robot.

Moros: 0-2, two self induced knockouts. Was still working, then I did a demo with a printer and managed to eject my motor controllers. Gearbox seems a bit stiff too, so I'll be doing a bit of a teardown and some rewiring.

Nyx: 2-2, performed pretty well. One loss was due to the drive motor wires unsoldering themselves, the other was my opponent balancing me on the wall. Overall, it did great and will be getting a few upgrades before Dragon*Con

Apollyon: 4-0, 12lb champion. It worked perfectly all weekend.

I also snagged the "Best Driver" award.

Ready for Motorama 2012

The robots are all tested and ready to go. Nyx needs a torque limiter for the flipper, so for now it'll have the dual disks and ramming spike.

Nyx is done

Nyx has been completed. A detailed instructable can be found at http://www.instructables.com/id/30lb-Fighting-Robot/

Motorama Fleet as of 1/23

Only a bit left to do. Nyx still has top armor and a few alternate weapons to be handled, but otherwise is ready to go. Both ants, Apollyon and Moros are all ready and waiting for Moto.

Nyx is effectively done.

It LIVES!

Just needs top armor and the extra weapons, and maybe a bit of tweaking on the weapon so it doesn't shoot sparks everywhere when I reverse it quickly.

Nyx status update part 2

Another day, another good deal of work done on Nyx. It's almost mechanically done, just a few small details and the top armor to go. Weight's going to be close, but it shouldn't be too hard to get it under 30lbs even with a touch of paint.