I’m back again with yet another new beetle for BBB new bots because I’m a glutton for punishment! As with previous years I wanted to continue branching out my skills and this time round it was time to go to the dark side and build a spinner (albeit a little one).
One of the big reasons behind feeling ready to build a spinner was the advent of the hub motors Repeat Robotics have started selling as they have helped provide a big headstart on designing up a spinner, I still plan on more spinners down the line that will need a full stack making but for the time being the hub is perfect. Theming wise I’ve drifted away from Gen 2 Pokemon and looked to the most recent Gen 9 for inspiration and the wonderful rotund boi that is Clodsire! This isn’t my first rodeo of a Clodsire themed bot after using an old Smidders frame for Just Clod when Robonerd did football but this time round I wanted to put some of the new found cad skills to good use in Fusion. Finally for weapon type I went for a thagamizer style horizontal as bar Cowtools (bring it back Henry!) and a couple other one and done bots here and there we haven’t had that many of this style bot in the UK (since building Clodomizer Jake has built his own thagamizer called spaghettificator for the same new blood event so they’re coming like buses in 2025!).
The previous Clod from 2023
Onto the cad for the build and quite early on I settled on having a billet as the frame to help out with keeping the size of the bot down and felt it would handle a few more events instead of needing to swap out damaged frame sections. For the tail section I went from 4mm carbon fibre to ensure the weapon setup was as rigid as possible. I had locked in having the tail and the billet to be 300mm long too to try and maximize the reach from the ‘spicy tail’ and by sheer luck more than anything else the balance was over the wheels first time!
I’m sure that’s enough space…
The wraparound is where things get a lot more adorable for Clod but blimey did it take a few goes to get the right look! Initially there was a relatively simple wraparound applied to get the initial vibe (see below) but I knew I wanted more so I set about designing the proper version. Through fighting fusion to fillet things correctly and making an adequate enough foot it took a full afternoon to cad the wraparound but finally there was something that looked like the best paldean boy! As an extra treat I did 2 versions of the wrap: the first being the clean wrap with the vacant yet endearing smile out the front, the second though incorporated ground game in the most adorable way via a blepping tongue.
Version 0.1 of Clod, always staring
0.2 now with chibi feets out the front
Now we’re cooking!
The finished wraparound cad, just look at that boi!
With the files all sent over to Sion and him regretting another batch of cutting it was time to bring the boi to life and frame wise it was the easiest assembly yet, billets just make life so much easier! Wiring wise though there was a slight hiccup as in terms of space there was literally bugger all inside! As I was taking Clod over to Dojo along with Wobba I did some minor bodging (gave clod an adjustable sunroof!) and finally I could do some testing in the safe confines of the meat locker. Overall it drove nicely although it did need some help from the tail to unstick it from the dojo seams. With a little bit of tweaking to the wheels, a minor esc fire and a lot of paint pen to finish the look Clodomizer was ready for new blood.
Test fit with the first wraparound, so far so good!
Size comparison of the main body of Clod against Aggro Wobba
Top plate and vinyl now applied, the sombrero still lives on from Toss
Clod or Cake?
Clod in a more natural environment
Fight 1 was against Rotavator, a mad hub motor vert with a lipo inside the drum and Death Talon, a fun linac grabber built by a school team. There was a lovely meaty hit between the 2 spinners early on but I’d been a big dumb dumb and thought “these weapon wires will be perfectly fine being held onto carbon fibre with just glue” and spoilers: that didn’t work! The wires flopped down and I cut my own wires and got stuck against the wall. It did slice off some of Rotavator’s print around the drum but it thoroughly deserved the win. Next up was Chopstick, Andy Russell’s new scary saw bot and this was the one I was hoping to avoid fighting! I had made a scrap piece of 6mm HDPE into an extra layer of top armour just in case and boy was I happy I’d done that in the end as Chopstick gave poor Clod a lobotomy with the amount of slices it did to the top plate! The best cut was on the tail section right where the phase wires were so once again there was no more weapon but mercifully Andy kept missing the link so Clod braved on to the judges. As with the last fight there were a couple nice hits early on but not enough to disable it. The last round of fights drew Clod against Cyber Raptor, one of our Croatian entrants we had on the day. Going into the fight Clod had a new tail this time made by Filo and a new disc after the previous one had blunted itself on the kickplates but when it became clear early on in the fight It wasn’t happy so I left the weapon off and in the end there was a moment of lucky driving baiting them down the pit to finish Clod’s run with a win.
Definitely not powered by radlers…
A little scuffed after Rotavator but ready for a trim
Tis but a scratch
Despite everything, it’s still Clodding
A very well earned coaster for the above damage
Despite the amount of punishment Clodomiser took throughout the day it was an absolute blast to drive and with minimal damage to the wraparound and billet a large amount of it is good to go again. There is a proper cover for the phase wires coming and a swap of weapon escs so I’m not bodging with Wobba’s old drive but it should be back fighting on the screen in the near future!
