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Storm Vortex Storm Vortex was built by Team Storm as a proof of concept to show what we believed could be done in the Featherweight class. Little did we know just how effective that 'idea' would be. Conceived in CAD and then turned into reality when Storm Vortex was first produced it was most powerful featherweight spinner ever built and once it got hold of you, it never let go as can be seen from this footage of Vortex engaging the featherweight Rip. Not once does the disk spin up, and once Vortex makes contact Rip's wheels never touch the floor long enough to do anything. Vortex developed a reputation as a fearsome piece of hardware with an awesome reliability record, it broke down once it it's entire existence, and once lost the chain from the disk (so pitted it's opponent instead).
Vortex was a very simple creation, pack as much weight into a
weapon motor and weapon system and make the rest weigh as little
as possible. The specs on Vortex speak for themselves
In these pictures below you can see what went into making Storm Vortex
Storm Vortex seen from the front. On the right hand side of the robot you can just make out the Bosch 35w motor and the supporting aluminium block for the bearings and the lightweight rubber-coated wheel. Above this there is a piece of 12mm polycarbonate upon which 2 x GT Electronics H5 speed controllers sit. These controllers gave Storm Vortex very very precise control which was needed to deliver the spinning disk weapon with maximum effect. Coupled with the speed controllers was a Gyro to help Vortex control that disk.
Looking down on the right hand side of Storm Vortex you can see that it sits on a base plate (just 25cm by 25cm in size) which is 4mm 2014T aluminium. The disk is then held in place by 2 bulkheads CNC'd out of 10mm thick 2014T aluminium. These bulkheads not only hold the disk in place (notice how the center of the disk is in line with the drive wheels of Vortex) but they also hold the S28-150 magmotor and retain it in place. Between the two side of Vortex there is a titanium tube which carries power and singal wires from one side of the robot to the other. You can clearly see the speed controllers and a battery pack which was held in to the robot using velcro and finally the Futaba 40Mhz PCM RX which was used to control Storm Vortex.
The left hand side of the robot which you are looking down on here was the business end of the disk controller. A large FET bridge provided speed control for the disk from a gentle idle to flat out. Using a speed controller meant it was easy for us to control the amount of energy we put into the disk - the last thing you wanted to do was to destroy everything. Remember, when Storm Vortex was built, some robots were still built from wood ! You can see the chain trive for the disk which was a 1:1 ratio from the Magmotor - and you can see the thick cables used to supply power which the Magmotor lapped up.
Storm Vortex seen from behind with it's 4mm 2014T aluminium lid in place. You can see how the Magmotor protrudes from the rear of Vortex, given then Mag's casing is 6mm steel there seemed little point in putting yet more armour over it so it was always just left exposed. It never took any damage. Also in reverse the top of Storm Vortex acted as an effective scoop allowing us to get under people and push them around. The windows in the side of Vortex were fitted with 8mm polycarbonate and were soley created to save weight in the structure of the robot. The original disk on Storm Vortex was a simple water-cut disk however it was found that it quickly started to take damage and lose it's hard edge so a second disk was manufactured. This one was CNC milled out of a sinble piece of EN36 steel which was then in turn 1mm case hardened. This gave an incredibly hard (if very expensive) wear surface
The original disk for Storm Vortex. It had too much fo the weight in the spokes and not enough of the weight concentrated around the edge of the disk. Also the teeth tended to take a lot of damage as they were only fabricated from soft steel.
The newer disk for Storm Vortex was a single (twin) spoke design and concentrated much more strength and weight towards the edge of the disk. It also only had 2 teeth to allow more of a bit in between revolutions. The teeth were carefully designed so that one was angled to the left and the next was angled to the right allowing it to attack two locations around 20mm apart from each other in a single attack.
Here you can see some of the detail of one of the cutting teeth - this disk was carefully design and manufactured to cause maximum damage to it's opponent. In 2003 Team Storm teamed up with Phantom Films to record the Inspire Featherweight Smash held in Norwich, there's some footage of Vortex on there.... to remind yourself about the good 'ol days - click here (you'll have to tell your PC to allow blocked content, but you're quite safe !) |
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