After tack welding the two half bots together, a few things became apparent.
1. It weighs 9.3kg already….
2. The weapon cannot be serviced as the weapon shaft cannot be removed in this position and there for cannot swap the bars or belts.

So I cut the existing mount and supports out.

There is actually a fair bit of weight in these two support plates, they are made from 5mm Hardox 500.

I’ve replaced the inner support of the chassis with some lightweight 20x20x2mm box section

The new weapon uprights will be made from 50x20x2mm RHS which will have a steel insert welded into them to support the weapon shaft.

These get a 25mm hole drilled into them.

A quick test fit to see what position will keep the weapon forward enough but also allow the shaft to be removed.

Some of the old chassis will be welded to the front like this (but not as much) to add some strength and armor to the front the robot.

Other than the fact that the robot is a little heavy, I noticed that the gas bottle chassis is rather oversized for what has to go inside.

I’m considering that I might cut 80mm off the front of it all to allow the center line of the gas bottle to butt up against the rear of the weapon upright.

This will compact the robot a bit, allow more armor to be added and also assist in self righting via the weapon.

Till next time!