Got my first soccerbot assembled. But it’s doing strange things with the motors.
Issue 1: If I choose the tank-style config for the remote, it mostly works as expected- although one side definitely turns faster/stronger. I’ve checked the tension on the screws etc, and that doesn’t seem to be the issue. Any ideas?
Issue 2: If I choose the “standard” style remote configuration, the bot goes nuts. One set of wheels goes backwards, and the other forwards - without pressing anything on the remote. If I try to drive forwards, then both go forwards (although again, one faster than the other). And if I try to go backwards, both will go backwards…
I’ve had the same issue… I was just trying to open a new post for that myself under the auspice of how to contact support.
I’ve received my Soccer kit and had fun assembling, but I’m having an issue with one of the controllers. When connected the bot would just spin to the right.
Using the other controller I verified the wires, analog switch, and core were all functional, but swapping the Transmitter shield duplicated the issue.
Trying a close examination of the shield I can’t see any solder bridges or such on the shield, but the tiny SMD bits are at the very limit of my ability to really examine without a microscope setup.
I know I’ll be able to buy more from Maker Supply n a month or so when they’re up for GA sale, but since this one appears to be defective I’d hope it could be swapped out sooner.
However, this puts me back at my question. How do we open a ticket for this kind of support? I must be blind and missing it, the only other support path I see for bambu starts with identifying a Printer model only.
Thanks for anyone who has insight. So far driving the bots one at a time around the room is fun at least.
They should turn at the same speed and strength. Did you try removing the motors from the Soccer Bot car and observed how they rotate without anything attached to the motor axles?
If they don’t rotate on the same rate, there might be binding happening within the gear box.
If they rotate at the same rate and not the same once installed in the SoccerBot car, then it’s probably being squeeze too tight causing the motor axle to not rotate freely.
I haven’t built the soccer bot, but I did notice that the gear reduction kits do vary a little bit. I had one that had much more internal friction than the others, and it wasn’t from the housing print.
You can feel this pretty easily - Have the complete gear reduction set in the printed housing and spin the output by hand without the motor installed. For me it was pretty easy to feel that one set had more friction than the other. Then you can try and isolate whether its the printed housing, the gear set, or try libricating a little better, etc.
Same issue with the forklift. I opened one of the gear boxes, and it’s just the friction of 5 gears meshing together. It’s very disappointing, as I don’t think there is really anything that can be done to improve it. And with the forklift, it causes it to be really jerky/lurchy, so picking up a pallet is VERY difficult. They either should have used larger motors, or made the smaller motors more powerful. Also, the Rx shouldn’t really drive the motors directly, as is done in “normal” RC vehicles. There would be a separate speed controller/motor/battery for the drive motor, separate from the Rx/battery. I know they are going for easy, aka Lego, but it really ends up in a far less than fantastic final result.
I assume some of you printed the gearbox using a non-Bambu Lab filament that is not properly calibrated. Too much flow rate or higher temperature cause more filament being extruded making walls thicker and holes smaller which causes the gears to bind due to tight holes or being squeezed together by the housing.
If so, I suggest you reprint the gearbox again after calibrating your filament. DO NOT USE SCALING. Instead, gradually reduce your flow rate by -0.01 or lower the hot end temperature by 5° until you find that the gears rotate more smoothly.
P.S. I printed 3 of my DodgeBots which is based from SoccerBots using calibrated filaments and I didn’t experience any of these, no issues the first I printed the gear boxes.
Its certainly possible for the problem to be with the gearbox print, especially friction around the output shaft. But what I experienced was I could swap back and forth between two different sets of internal gears within the same printed gearbox, and one set had significantly more internal friction. They just were slightly larger causing friction when meshing or something.
I have exactly the same problem. I have two soccerbots and two controllers.
Controller 1 makes both bots work properly regardless of the control profile.
Controller 2 makes both bots spin wildly to the right if I use the “L throttle/R steer” control profile, but works properly if I use the “tank steer” control profile or the “left drive only” control profile from the forklift build.
I’ve confirmed that all of the wiring is identical between the controllers, so the issue seems to be either in the software of the controller profiles or there’s some difference in the micro-processor chip that drives the controllers.
