Background
Dark Energy Disc (DED) is a 1lb plastic antweight I built for my brother James. It’s a simple horizontal midcutter that uses a Colbolt-inspirted blade for a weapon.
Theme
DED is a Yu-Gi-Oh themed robot. The name itself comes from one of the more humorous instances of censorship in the anime. Originally, Yugi and his opponent are strapped to the arena floor with ankle-cuffs and buzzsaws inch towards them the more lifepoints they lose. But in the censored 4Kids version, the saws are replaced with “Dark Energy Discs” that will send you to the shadow realm once they make contact with your skin. The bot was given a neon blue blade to match the disc in the show as well as black supports and an orange chassis to match the orange arena they duel in.
The top and bottom panels of the robot are also decorated with actual trap cards. One face-up and one face-down. This way, when the robot gets flipped over, the trap card activates!
Electronic Components
Weapon Motor: E-Max Pulsar 2207 2450kv
Weapon ESC: FlyColor 50A
Drive ESC: EndBots DESC with built-in receiver
Drive Motor: FingerTech SilverSparks 22:1 gearmotors
Battery: Tattu 3s 450mAh
Bot Construction
I haven’t built a Plastic Ant (Plant) since Nessie in 2017, so it was fun to try and make one again. The bot is printed entirely out of HP-PLA. The weapon itself is 100% solid while the rest of the robot is about 25% infill with large 4 layer walls.
The blade also keys directly into the slots of the motor can to mount it in place (Yay 3d printing). The weapon motor also lights up, giving it an extra touch of flare in the arena!
For wheels, DED uses the same size gum-rubber foam wheels as Puca, just with my Smol Hubs instead (and with a larger back). But yeah, just a simple cylinder with a d-hole cut in it.
The bot was also supposed to have wheel guards, but they made the bot too heavy.
Underneath, a locknut goes around the weapon shaft to keep the two supports from flexing too far on big hits.