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Written by Simon Arthur

Parent Category: Big Blue Saw Blog

Created: 05 December 2018

Luke Faulkingham wrote in to tell us about his fighting robot Shake 3. It's made with custom aluminum parts in 2 thicknesses, waterjet cut by Big Blue Saw! Here's what Luke has to say about the robot's design and manufacture:

The design is inspired by bots such as Sewer Snake and Tormenta 3 armed with a lifter that also operates as a front hinged flipper when run in reverse. The bot is made out of 6061 Aluminum, mostly 1/4” thick with some 1/2” parts in the weapon system for added strength, and uses NutStrip to hold the pieces together with tabs and slots for added strength. The bot also runs on two brushless motors for drive, allowing a high top speed and lots of pushing power. From the beginning the bot was designed with the intent of using waterjet cut pieces to make up the entire bot, using the precision and low tolerances to allow for added strength while also saving weight in the bot.

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Written by Super User

Parent Category: Big Blue Saw Blog

Created: 30 November 2018

What season is December? For most, it’s Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. But for a select few, it’s the start of Robot Building Season. As it becomes too cold to go outside, it’s best to stay indoors and work on your robot.

That’s why at Big Blue Saw December is Robot Building Season! We’ve got specials just for robot builders to make their lives easier so that they can get the custom parts they need: high performance materials and sales on our most popular stock metals!

 All Month: High Performance Materials

Whether you’re beginner building a beetleweight pushybot or a veteran vowing to vanquish with 250 pounds of vicious velocity, Big Blue Saw has you covered. From December 1 through December 31, we’re making the following high performance materials available on the website for instant online ordering and quoting:

 Normally these materials are only available for a custom order, but during Robot Building Season, you can save time and money by ordering them directly from our online quoting system.

• Titanium 6Al-4V is one of the best materials for wedges, armor, lifting arms, and durable spinning weapons.
• AR400 and AR500 are great for spikes, spinning bars and discs, and armor.
• UHMW polyethylene has incredible toughness and energy absorbing properties that make it the right choice for armor base layers or giant wheels if you’re HUGE.

For more on the uses of these materials, and how to choose the best one, I highly recommend checking out the RioBotz Combat Robot Tutorial by Marco Antonio Meggiolaro. Chapter 3 discusses in detail the best use of each of these materials.

Three More Ways to Save

But wait, you might say, fighting robots are not my thing, so these high performance materials are overkill. If you’re building a robot arm, research robot, or task robot, we’ve got you covered there, too with specials throughout December.

• Monday, December 3 through Friday, December 7: save on aluminum 6061 in 0.25 inch (¹/₄") thickness
• Monday, December 10 though Friday, December 14: save on aluminum 6061 in 0.125 inch (¹/₈") thickness
• Monday, December 17, through Friday, December 21: save on cold finished steel 1018 in 0.25 inch (¹/₄") thickness

All orders placed online for the sale materials during the sale period will automatically receive a quantity discount. That means that when you order as little as one part, you get the same price as if you had ordered 10.

Questions and Answers about Big Blue Saw's Sales During Robot Building Season

• What is on sale?
  Custom parts from your designs made using 3 different stock materials. Each stock material is on sale during a different week. See the list above for material specifications and sale times.
  
  Low-taper is not on sale. The special high performance materials for December Robot Building Season are also not on sale.
• How much will I save?
  Orders as small as 1 part will automatically receive the quantity 10 discounted price. The dollar amount depends on the design and quantity ordered. 
• How can I order with the sale price?
  Just upload your design to our online quoting and ordering system, and check out through the website shopping cart. You will automatically receive the discount price when placing your order. No need to use coupon codes or other tricks.
• I don't have a design. How can I make one?
  Use your favorite CAD or vector image software. If you don't have this kind of software, check out our list of free or low-cost alternatives. Also, be sure to  read about how to format your CAD files for use with Big Blue Saw. 
• I didn't hear about your sale until just now and don't have time to get my design ready. When is your next sale?
  Sign up for our mailing list to get early notifications about the next sale.
• I have special requirements for shipping, secondary machining, or rush processing my order. Can I still get the sale price?
  To get the sale price, orders must be placed through the website. So typically we cannot accommodate special requests for sale parts.

Wrapping Up

Please keep in mind that the Big Blue Saw offices will be closed Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Day so that all of our employees can spend time with their families.

Happy Holidays, and Happy Robot Building Season!

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Written by Simon Arthur

Parent Category: Big Blue Saw Blog

Created: 15 November 2018

Brandon Young of Bone Dead Robotics wrote in to tell us about two fighting robots he designed in Solidworks and built with the help of custom parts from Big Blue Saw.

 

The robot above is a 12lber named  Atrocious. Brandon tells us:

It's the third revision of the design where I used 5/16" 6061 for the frame rails. The goal is to be a powerful lifter with four-wheel drive; it evolved into a sort of mini-Whiplash. Its first competition was at Franklin Institute 2018 but the drive proved to be too much for the Markforged Onyx pulleys and the #25 chain that powered the lifter was broken by the power of the gearbox. It took no real damage so it should be ready for Motorama 2019!

 

Some of Brandon's CAD designs for Atrocious and Vlonco to be waterjet cut from 5/16 inch thick aluminum.

 

More parts designed to be waterjet cut from 1/2 inch aluminum 6061 for a 60 pound robot from Bone Dead Robotics.

 

Below, we have the 3 pound robot "Vlonco".

 

 

Brandon says:

It was named that as an homage to Vlad the Impaler and Bronco since that is where most of the inspiration came from. It has two central frame rails also made from 5/16" 6061 but they are designed to compress the Markforged Onyx components throughout the robot; it was designed as a test to get maximum strength with 3D-printed and aluminum components. It also competed at Franklin Institute but due to mysterious drive problems with the brushless drive it never got the chance to test its strength. It should also be ready for either Motorama 2019 or Bot Blast 2019!

Need robot parts? Order them using our online quoting system!

Details

Written by Simon Arthur

Parent Category: Big Blue Saw Blog

Created: 01 November 2018

When Zac O'Donnell needed replacement parts for his 30 pound fighting robot Magneato, he turned to Big Blue Saw.

Originally designed in Alibre Design, Zac was able to export DXF files to use with our online ordering system to order parts made from 1/8 inch thick aluminum 7075. Magneato's name comes from its magnetic clutch which connects a flywheel to a powerful lifting arm. This lets Magneato toss its opponents around the arena with ease.

Have a look at Zac's Magneato build album for more details.

The 7075 aluminum Zac used has a tensile strength about 85% higher than the more common 6061 alloy. That makes it ideal for applications where the parts need to be able to take a beating. Zac has competed with Magneato at NERC events since 2014.

Here's a video of Magneato in action at this year's NERC Franklin Institute competition. Are your robot parts this tough? Let us know!