Antweight Kit

[Shakey]

Re: Antweight Kit

Shapeways will automatically orientate your model. I've tried submitting different orientations in the past but the file always gets rotated.

[Merkabah_PT]

Re: Antweight Kit

In solidworks the chassis are oriented in the right way, by once i upload the stl files to shapeway it automatically changes to the orientation. Maybe because most people don't don't that's the most pricy way, and then they print it with the right orientation, making more money?

New triangular version:


Full walls Volume = 53206.05 cubic millimeters
Vented walls Volume = 39941.36 cubic millimeters

All versions prices on shapeways:

[Merkabah_PT]

Re: Antweight Kit

This is what i have in mind for a CF chassis, still need to add the bolts and screws that hold the four layers together to the assembly.



What do you guys think about this design?
Can i glue that RX/battery support to the other CF parts using 2 part epoxy?

[Merkabah_PT]

Re: Antweight Kit

So, i made some major volume/material reductions and i was able to lower the price to 29€.



But the Carbon Fiber chassis is conquering my mind!
Less than 10€ for the CF sheet and all the bolts and nuts, besides being much stronger. And if some panel breakes it's only needed a spare panel, rather than a new expensive full chassis.

EDIT: Some extra holes and some trimming and now the price is 26€. I can't reduce the volume anymore, and i am afraid that the chassis is to fragile this way.



I will wait until Friday to see how are the prices here, but i expect then to go up.

[Liftoff]

Re: Antweight Kit

Less than 10€ for the CF sheet and all the bolts and nuts

That's a good price! What size and thickness of sheet are we talking about? Locally for that price you'd probably get an A5 sized sheet with a 3mm thickness

[Merkabah_PT]

Re: Antweight Kit

About the same area, but 1mm thick, around 8.50€ from hobby king: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...MM_Thick_.html

Here do you live? Do you have any store links?
HB might be better, bacause i can order the CF and the servos (and tx/rx for a full robot) in the same package.

[Liftoff]

Re: Antweight Kit

I'm from Malta...the shop who sells the stuff has no web shop :|
1mm sheet should be cheaper - so I think the price is right...you'll find similar prices off ebay.

Some time back was looking into the possibility of using kevlar composite armour, but the costs involved were prohibitive, so the idea was scrapped!

[Merkabah_PT]

Re: Antweight Kit

Oh, ok.
HK carbon fiber might be more expensive, but is better to as many parts as i can from a single place.
I never used ebay and i don't really trust it, lol.

Yah, carbon fiber and kevlar for large robots is still a no, but for ants it a very good and cheap material.

[daliad100]

Re: Antweight Kit

Been meaning to get back into robots and came up with this body shell to get my eye back in.

Man these things are small.

[attachment=1:1o4oomh7]IMAG0130.jpg[/attachment:1o4oomh7]

All of the parts for it + an oversized piece of material for at least the flipper and possibly some wheels can be cut from an A5 sheet of material

[attachment=0:1o4oomh7]IMAG0129.jpg[/attachment:1o4oomh7]

You could stick the spare lifter arm on the other side to stiffen the flipper considerably. Should fit in weight and the cube too if you were to use a smaller battery and 1-2mm plastic as the build material which should be cuttable on a laser.

[Merkabah_PT]

Re: Antweight Kit

Oh s***! I totally forgot about the size restrictions! Damn that cube is small...
Time to make some designs from scratch.

Anyone using servos, rx and lipo? UBECs are too big... I read on a RC forum that 3 3A or 6A diodes in series will reduce the voltage pretty well.

[duff]

Re: Antweight Kit

The cube isn't small, its very spacious compared to the 3 inch cube I'm currently using to build my fleaweights. :P

And most spektrum and orange receivers will take a fully charged 2s lipo. But the small servos don't like it so much. You can get a 5v or 6v regulator from eBay from pennies though.

[Merkabah_PT]

Re: Antweight Kit

A linear regulator is very cheap, but doesn't work very well with 2s lipo, needs a big diference between input and out but. A ubec is good because of that, and doesn't generate so much heat. I will investigate that diodes thingy.

[Merkabah_PT]

Re: Antweight Kit

So, replaced the 4xAAA battery for 2 1s lipos, re-arranged the components layout and the result was a dramatic change in size.

Only 14€ to print! :shock:

I can even remove some of the holes or make them smaller.






All parts from HobbyKing (excluding TX/RX) only cost 30€ including shipping.

[Mega Masher]

Re: Antweight Kit

Looks awesome, what wheels are you planning to use?

[Phil]

Re: Antweight Kit

Well done for shrinking your ant.

I use a regulator on a pair of 120 mAh 2s lipo with several of my robots. It works fine for me.



Are you intending to have your kit assembled by the users or are you going to give it to the users fully assembled?

Good luck with it all.