[CRUSH-build] Kareem needs some attention before he can compete

[Bill Bennett]

Hi builders
We're hours away from the end of build period. It's been a ton of fun, I 
hope you learned a lot (I think you did), and we have a cool machine at the 
end. It was also much harder than it should be, and Kareem has significant 
issues before he can compete with any success. We can do very little more 
before shipping, but we'll need to plan well to know what to do on Thursday 
in Phoenix.

Some things we found tonight:

Even after careful wheel alignment and then welding the wheel axle washers 
in place, we had major chain problems. This was really frustrating! But then 
while we were inspecting for chain issues, we notice many (most of them in 
fact) wheel screws were loose on some missing. These are the screws that 
hold the wheel plates on. We put on more lock-tite and tightened them all, 
and the chain issues are mostly gone now. We'll have to watch these screws 
very carefully and maybe switch to permanent lock-tite. There was probably 
30-40 minutes of driving after that, and we lost a chain only once. This is 
equivalent to many 2 minute games. I think if we clean and grease the chains 
we may eliminate the remainder of the chain problem. The chains are pretty 
dirty and grimy right now.

The tank mode driving does not work very well. Not sure if it's software or 
hardware. One side pulls harder than the other and sometimes it starts going 
backwards for no apparent reason. One-stick drive works better, so I think 
this indicates tank problems are in software.

We continued to tune the collector deflector but it remains an enigma. 
Careful driving can collect a high percentage of balls (maybe 70% + ) but 
without compensation, the percentage of collected balls that go in the ball 
hopper is quite low.

There are many other small things yet to do: ball feed hookup, hopper dump 
software, finish installing bumpers, maybe more weight loss, etc. We'll be 
busy on practice day in Phoenix.

It got so late we didn't do much driver testing tonight. We'll do more with 
whoever is available in the morning (in a couple hours).

In two weeks we go to compete in Phoenix. Personally, I'm ready for a few 
days off. Maybe we all are. After shipping today, I would like to meet next 
week Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, then the Tuesday before we leave for 
Phoenix. This time will be spent organizing our tool and materials travel 
kit, planning pit display, and planning Kareem repairs and mods that will 
need doing upon arrival.

Lots of fun ahead guys.

Bill