So I have lost what little humor I had, don't know why. I think I used it up in other stuff.

I don't own medabots.

Sorry I didn't get legs done last chapter, they sound so simple in my head. I can waste so much time talking on useless stuff but even after a few years getting used to typing I still cant stand typing what I'm not interested in. It isn't simple, I'm well aware of that, but the basic idea in my head is so incredibly asinine that it gets shoved aside by something like the freeloader mechanisms of a high-speed mutli-barrel gattler. If you want to design a pair of legs, bipedal, quad or whatever, look at a skeletal chart of animals. See how the joints are assembled and how muscles are required to pull in what direction and how. It is the same with any joint in my mind. If you want an alternate form of construction, something that has never been done biologically, then it is only a little more interesting. Then you get to take the basic kinds of joints, there are only three naturally occurring (that I know of) and extrapolate a system that is functional for what you need.

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Medabots Anatomy 101

Lesson 6 of (?) weapons systems. Slice, Dice and Pierce.

Everybody, at least that I know, loves swords. Shiny sharp and deadly. Weather fancy and tailored to sit on a shelf or functional to a razored edge that can separate skin from muscle without pain. And with that statement we come to the futile point about blades and medabots.

Medabots don't have flesh, none at all, and those medabots that use extremely thin metal armor or even those with cloth are not combat models or are meant to be kept from the heat of battle. Simply put a simple cutting edge isn't that good against the armor of a medabot.

A blade would have to delve deeper than the initial armor layer to reach components where a sword could do harm. Flesh easily separates when cut, metal resists, and so the same blade that would gut a human would be lucky to draw oil from a medabot.

To correct for this most medabot blades are sharper, thinner and often have a thinner width on their back edge, minutely so, than the cutting edge. This allows for the blade to slice through with less resistance and has less likelihood of becoming stuck. The problem of reaching components to damage still hasn't been resolved however.

As always the more vital the component the deeper and more heavily protected it is. For a knife or blade to reach that component, rather than spend vital time scraping and chipping armor away, most all blades have a chisel shaped tip or some form of extreme wedge that can be driven deeply in a stab or with a thrust mid slash to increase the depth after the initial entry. Of course that isn't slashing, that would be stabbing. In any event most medabot blades have both a sharp edge and a piercing tip.

As to the construction of said blades… well I have heard many methods for forging human swords, personally I like the highland forging method for its practicality, but as human swords serve little good against metal, with very few exceptions, most methods are futile. As to what forging methods would develop blades most suitable for medabots I would advise one to study japans sword lore. Japanese blades are irrefutably superior to any other I have encountered when cutting steel and surviving with minimal or no harm.

But considering that any method of forging a sword takes time and a good deal of effort and decent metals I wager that most medabot blades are anything but forged. This leaves us with blades molded, stamped and just shaped from a peace of metal.

Molded blades are simply a mold, made of anything really but temperature treated ceramic is good if you can find or make it in the right shape and I find wood (good for only one use and not the best for larger blades) easier to shape, filled with liquid metal and allowed to cool before being removed and trimmed of rough edges, and treated/ polished. Molded blades are most commonly made or iron or poorer grades of steel as the melting points for purer metals are higher than the mold can usually take.

Stamped blades are done on factory conveyor belts and are just punched from sheets of metal before being trimmed, giving a revised shaping and sharpened (its been a while but I believe this part is still done by people) before being treated and sent to be packaged or shipped or whatever is done with them before they turn up in stories or whatever. Stamped blades are like your steak knife or, unless I am greatly mistaken, certain combat knifes not to mention almost any pocket knife blade.

Seeing as we have been going down the list in regards of difficulty in making blades its only fitting that shaped metal is last. Shaped metal is quite simply a peace of metal ground or shaved till it reaches the desired form and shape. Rarely will a shaped blade be heavily treated as it is too rough to resist rust in any event and methods of removing rust usually scrubbing with large quantities of sand, possibly oiled. I make shaped blades from rebar, cross girders, or if available old railroad tracks. Metal for making a shaped blade is readily available no matter where you live if you open your eyes. Look at rail yards for broken equipment, or at the trash/rubbish bins near construction yards. My favorite place for gathering any metal is junkyards or scrap yards.

So know that you have a blade, no mater how it was made, it needs to be mounted. Your chooses are either placing it directly on the medabot or to mount it on a handle. Mounting a blade on a handle is simple enough in thought but not without its difficulties. In the shaping of your blade, whatever method you used, you should have left a long empty stretch of metal near the base. This is called the tang and is what connects the blade to the hilt. Multiple forms of tang exist but because of the delicacy involved in the other forms I will only cover full tangs.

Your grip, made of whatever you chouse, should fit the hand of its intended user but needs to be proportional to the size of the blade at least. The length of the tang should be a little longer than the grip so you can mount a pommel, if not than it is not a full tang and you will have to find other mounting types. Now the tang can be trimmed a bit so that the front edge of the blade hangs out over it or so the back does, I don't advise trimming it more than half the blades size as the more removed reduces the strength of where the tang meets blade. If your grip is as big around as the tang you can split the grip and simply place the tang between them. It isn't done yet however. After making sure the slit grip fits flush against the tang, that is hopefully flat, you can either drill holes in the tang for mounting pins or you can put file markings on the tang, make it so the tang could be used as a wood file, so that it bites and holds the grip and then drill your holes for mounting pins. The holes for mounting pins should just be wide enough for your pins to fit through them snugly. the mounting pins are simply little metal pins drawn through the drill holes of both grip and tang and secured by whapping with a hammer, as the other side rests on an anvil or other hard surface, so the pin ends are flattened just in the wood surface. I also rap thin bands of some malleable metal over each pin to insure its sound, a little pre-work on the grip insures that each band has a recessed notch it just fits in and makes flush with the rest of the grip.

If the tang edges are not flush with the grip edges you don't have to split it but if you do you will have to carve out the tang area, half the tang width from both sides, so that it will rest nestled in the wood. Rather than splitting the grip you can use a drill, I hated shop class and spent little time there so if you have a better tool for what I'm doing let me know, to make a slot in the wood that fits the tang's width and length. This means taking the drill or using a drill press to drill into the top or bottom of the hilt, where the blade will leave, the size of the drill bit used should not exceed the width of the tang. In this method however if you file mark the tang the marks should only grab when trying to draw the tang out of the grip. If the file marks grab while entering it will tear the wood and ruin the effect they would have in holding the tang in. the mounting pins are done here the same as before.

The numbers of mounting pins are proportionate to the size of the knife or sword. Any knife or blade should have at least two, any blade exciding five inches should have three, after that however is up to whatever the maker feels will hold it soundly without detracting from the tangs structure. Mounting pins are always placed through the center of the tang and should not be within two centimeters of one another. Mounting pins need be least an inch or inch and a half from the beginning of the blade and half and inch from the pommel. If you should make a great sword or something with a two handed grip, or two and a half, I would advise four pins.

Guards and pommels are optional on any blade but should you decide to want one it requires a bit of stepping back. A pommel is simply a cap placed at the back of the grip and that attaches to the tang by ways of a small metal strip that enters the grip next to the tang and shares the last mounting pin. However there are other versions that are larger and balled or shaped in some form or another, theses as fitted to fit the grip and mounted on the tang with another pin. Guards are not so simple, they are, predominately, simply so that when shifting your grip on a blade you don't grip the blade when focused elsewhere. Your guard is shaped however you will and will go down under the grip with the rest of the blade so that the first mounting pin holds it as well. So for example I have a square guard, it has two, or one, long thin peaces that lay flush with the sides of the tang before I attach the grip the guard should be justly sound with the front of the grip. A cap peace, like the simple pomle I mentioned, can also be placed on the front of the grip underneath the guard.

There you go now you have a blade, give it to your medabot or keep it yourself. If you want a sheath… well for that you should go ask someone good at woodshop or leather working. Now lets move on to mounting a blade directly onto your medabot.

Just as when we where mounting a club on your medabot an issue is structure and the damage that could occur when striking. However we also have other options present when speaking of blades and robotics. And while those two shouldn't, at first thought, bother one another they do in many instances. For one if the blade was simply mounted onto the medabots inner framework with the proper impact dampeners the blade loses a good deal of the mobility it had while on a grip in the medabot's hands.

And so we can seek out ways of making that blade mobile, to some degree or another, but we must still be cautious as to the return damage caused by impacts. Lets look first at retractable blades.

Simply put a retractable blade is drawn inward into the arm of the medabot in question. However, there are two methods of this. The first is by having a built in sheath that is where the blade retracts into, with room for the stop block that prevent the incidental loss of the blade upon extending, and a set of guiding tracks mounted to the arm the same way a kinetic punch might be. The retraction method is a small motorized gear that catches the tang, and the matching teeth engraved there, and a depressed spring with a catch mechanism that keeps it depressed until such time as the medabot wants to extend the blade once again. The spring is released and the gear is in neutral so the blade is shot forward to where the stop block, either a flared area where the tang and blade meet or simply a crossing bar affixed to the tang, draws short on a rubber stopper and a simple catch stops down on the stop block until the larger clamps built in along the guiding tracks can lock down on the blade's tang. This assembly is a bit frail however and is prone to losing blades as the stop block wears down. And often enough the clamps are unable to securely hold the blade during violent thrusts.

The other method for a retractable blade is simpler. The blade is firmly affixed to its mounting system and properly dampened, however the mounting system is placed on a set of tracks with several small motors to draw it back or forward with several small and medium clamps that can lock down on the tracks at any point. This system is slower and makes nose, only slight, if improperly oiled or maintained. This method is very strong against impacts, as not only is the blade mounted in impact dampeners the tracks are often placed atop rubber or silicate pads. This method involves more room than its counterpart however and is just as demanding about its maintenance.

Another way of improving upon the basic mounting system is a snap mount. This is where the blade is either stored with the blade drawn back on a pivot or hinge or able to be drawn back and released for battle or during battle so that the blade snaps up into a battle position. Again there are two methods towards this, some might say more but the others they mean aren't snap mounts and will be covered latter.

Now as towards the snap mount I mentioned that isn't meant for combat use. This mount is just for storing the blade when not in a fight, as such when in the action of deploying the blade or storing it is susceptible to damage. The snap mount is just a strong, very strong, joint with a good pivot attached to the arm of the medabot, through the usual damage suppressing mounts, and the tang of the blade. Again cached springs are a method of deployment where a spring will be released to 'kick' the blade up into its ready position where clamps catch across the tang and hold the blade. For the non-battle snap mount there isn't necessarily a motorized means of storing the blade, the medabot would simply release the clamps and press the blade back to it position or a smaller spring against the hinge witch close the blade back like it was a mouse trap. However if the blade is stored mechanically it is often by the same method by with it was deployed.

A note on blade positioning. Combat snap mounts always have the blade's edge directed towards the direction of release. However that doesn't mean that a non-battle mount cant have their blade edge pointed in the direction of blade deployment. Non-battle mounts enjoy the luxury of having blades that open with the flat leading. While not considered much for anything it isn't often that the medabot with such a flat mounted snap mount hasn't used, or thought of using, it to slap some sense into someone.

A battle capable snap mount differs little in motion than its non-battle cousin. The difference between them is entirely in the motorization. A BSM will not use springs but rather has two options of deployment/ motion control. The first is a gear mounted directly onto the hinge for movement and the clamps for stopping clamp down on this or another round plate affixed to the other side of the hinge. The gear is attached to a high-speed transmission box before encountering at least one motor. A medabot with this gear function has the ability to use its blade in any degree of deployment. A problem with this system is that it has only the barest of impact resistance, often only a thin layer of padding between the systems structures and the frame of the medabot.

The other option for BSM is to use thicker padding between the structures and medabot frame and to replace the transmission box with a belt system. In this way the medabot surrenders speed and the ability to move its blade against strong outside resistance so it can strike harder without suffering serious damage from its own hit. Some NBSM, non-battle snap mounts, also use a belt system. The way of telling them apart from the BSM is the clamping system involved, BSMs clamp down on the hinge or a wheel connected to the hinge. NBSMs clamp down on the tang of the blade and only when the blade is fully extended or stored.

The external armor and casings for SMs are varied and differing from medabot to medabot in not only appearance, shape and deployment but also how the blade is deployed. The exterior casing of a SM has either an open section or a double-hinged cover through witch the blade passes. There are few rules about where or how a SM can be mounted and generally it can be put anywhere that the components can be fitted. Some popular units that have SMs are Mantis' and any transforming KWG.

Now as to those people I mentioned who said there are other forms of switch mounts, the devices to witch they are referring are very similar to switch mounts in motion and use but are more akin to saws in workings.

The device in question isn't meant for solid strikes; rather it is meant for high-speed slashes or on some units a rapidly repeating strike. There is no hinge in this device but otherwise is no different from a switch mount with a high-speed transmission. The tang of the blade is attached directly to a wheel and the wheel's axle mounting is what is placed on impact dispersing pads before attachment to the medabots frame. Now the real differences for this device is that it requires a double-edged blade or some form of twist capability in the arms structure, if mounted on an arm. The device is meant explicitly for the slashing such a rapid deployment would bring and its use as a stabbing weapon is limited as it has barely any impact absorption. Thus it needs to be able to slash not only while deploying but also upon retuning to starting position and any location between. This weapon device has no claps except those for a resting, outside of battle, position.

The same device that I just mentioned has a slight alteration, not in the device itself but how it is used in conjunction with the medabots frame. If the frame and armor of the medabot where opened in gaps, or those double hinged flaps used in switch mounts, with appropriate gaps inside the arm the medabot could 'rev' up the speed on the blade, or blades in this instance, and have a buzz saw effect that could rapidly strip armor from an opponent or riddle it unstable as the blade/s continue spinning in one direction without slowing. No medabot has this version of this device that I am aware of.

What other modifications can be done to a medabot-mounted blade? Well so far we have covered ones that move the blades in sweeps, now lets cover ones a little less mobile.

The first modification we will speak of is like the last and is of my own tinkering thoughts. The twist, and I don't mean the dance either. The twist is where the tang of the blade has been mounted inside a cylinder; behind this cylinder is a lightly padded impact plate that is further padded before encountering the medabots frame. This is so thrusts with the weapon are still as potent as a fixed blade. The difference is where the cylinder is held in place in a rotate able set of bearing tracks. At least two of these bearing, twisting, tracks must be on the cylinders and heavily greased, but more tracks will mean a firmer structure for the cylinder. The bearing tracks, rounded tracks holding greased ball bearings, are affixed into a strong hexagonal, or other, surrounding framing before being affixed to the medabots frame. The blade is now identical to any fixed blade but not finished. A gear ring should be placed around the center of the cylinder and a drive chain ran to the stout motor affixed to the outer structure of the hexagonal frame.

Now a rule of thumb with the twist is that the blade has to be a strong thick blade, otherwise the twist can't be used as primarily intended. It can still be used to change the blade position while fighting of course and open up a new range of swings that will strike with the edge but it will no longer be capable of stabbing and twisting without a risk of breaking off the blade of the knife. That is what the twist is meant for. To be stabbed deep into a medapart and twisted, wrenching open a small hole in the armor and further damaging the structure or component underneath than a normal stabbing would.

Now the twist can use other weapons than a knife but it wouldn't classify as a knife then or be as good at slashing then. Drill bits, bladed spirals, spike sided rods, they are all useable with the twist and rely on its spin for their damage. The knife or sword mounted on the twist is not meant to spin in a full circle after stabbing however. The knife twist is just a quarter turn after stabbing; any more might damage the knife blade or the twists components. Given some time I might devise a simple way of making switch able weapons for the twist but at this time all those that I have tried are either very difficult to change or not firm enough and get left in the target.

I could, if I forced myself, think of other sword or blade based systems that could be used but from this point onward they would start getting odd or weird with less practicality. So considering it is now rather late, while I'm finishing the initial draft of this, I'll hang up this chapter/lesson.

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Not my best word work today but I have been distracted. Next lesson about guns or misc. weapons, or I could end up on a totally different tangent.