From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

[Chris230291]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

Being a total idiot, there's a list in one of the tutorials supplied in this thread. Sorry.
Anyhow, is machine mart a good place to buy equipment from? Is it true they have vat free evenings? I'm in East Sussex, where are the closest events to me?
Which event organiser did the one at the Brighton center a few years back?

Sorry I ask so many questions.

I had a look at cad software and to be honest I'm not going to bother until I get a better computer. This ones pretty old, so muh we'll see. Thanks anyway.

Machine mart aint bad price wise but everywhere has constantly got deals on so its a case of looking online to see whos doing what at the best price and then finding the closest store to you. or just buy online, sometimes you need to to get the reduced price.

as for cad software, you'll find that you'll need quite a powerful machine to run it. especially if you have loads of parts to your assembly. i have a separate machine with nothing on but my cad software. your best bet for a cheap powerful computer would be to build your own. if you haven't a clue where to start im sure there's a forum for it. although now days complete machines have come right down in price. aldi sell good machines occasionally if your not a badge snob.

[Roland]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

I've been reading the Riobotz tutorial posted a little way back in this thread, I've compiled a large amount of notes to look at while I'm designing, but I'm somewhat confused by the offensive/defensive wedge designs, could anyone explain it in a simpler way?
Thanks for the contributions so far, they've all been very helpful.

Edit: I forgot to ask, I couldn't find a list with sizes of parts, I was wondering if anyone knew of one I could use, since I don't currently have CAD, and I'm starting with pen and paper, is it worth buying the parts now before I design to work out sizes?

[daliad100]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

These are about wedges vs spinners: Defensive wedges are lower to stop you from being thrown/spun around allowing you to keep attacking the spinner. Offensive wedges are steeper to cause the spinner to launch itself with its own weapon energy.

[Roland]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

These are about wedges vs spinners: Defensive wedges are lower to stop you from being thrown/spun around allowing you to keep attacking the spinner. Offensive wedges are steeper to cause the spinner to launch itself with its own weapon energy.

Ooh choices choices!
Thanks for the answer.

[Roland]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

Sorry to be a bug, but I'm in desperate need with help on the internal dimension question, I want to get designing asap. Soooorry.

[RogueTwoRobots]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

Hey Roland,

What parts sizes do you need? I can't guarantee I know sizes for every part you need but I should be able to help out with things like drill motors and such.

[Roland]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

Minimally the Robochallenge blue wheels, (I know 100 mm is the diameter, but I don't know the depth) and width depth and height of an average drill motor.
Thanks a buuuunch.

Haha, I'm looking at my internals diagram here, and I'm thinking, what is a victor and why is it connected to my drive motors? Euuurgh. I hate being a noob who doesn't know where to find information.

[daliad100]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

A victor is a speed controller. It is used to take the output from your reciever and turn it into PWM that can be used to control the speed of your motor.

Drill motor dimensions are roughly speaking 50mm diameter (max) and 150mm long (including the shaft) the shaft is about 25mm long with a 3/8 UNF thread for 15mm along it being common.

[Roland]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

Thanks! I asked my granddad about it and he explained what it was, I also got a helpful lesson on volts, current, RPM and torque. Looks like I'm set for the designing stages! Yippeeeee! Thanks everybody so far.

[RogueTwoRobots]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

The Robo Challenge 100mm diameter blue wheels have a width/depth of approximately 30mm. There is a boss in the centre of the wheel, protruding out one side. This is where the drill motor nuts are pressed/melted in to. The boss is about 25mm in diameter and sticks out past the wheel by about 5mm, making the total width roughly 35mm.

EDIT: Here's a pic:

[attachment=0:2184e0gr]blue_wheel_dimensions.JPG[/attachment:2184e0gr]

[Roland]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

Hmm, I'm wondering whether or not the blue wheels are a good idea then, I'm aiming for a tornado-esque design, so I'm wanting as much surface area with the floor as I can get. I do actually have some small tyres at home I scrapped off an old RC monster truck which would fit the bill, but I stupidly didn't keep the plastic drums for templates, how might I go about building a set of wheels? I originally thought I could stick two blue wheels inside a rubber lining, but that might be too expensive and weak.

[Anttazz]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

I hate to answer for him, but I think thats what k_c_r does but with a bicycle tyre outside the blue wheels and that seems to get decent grip. Could always try that with the RC car wheels you have and if that doesn't work you could either go with just blue wheels or the bicycle wheel idea, but maybe better asking Jamie how best to go about it first.

And of course there is the possibility that i'm completely wrong....

[team_orr]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

yes thats what i usually do, cut a strip of bicycle tyre (free from dumps\rubbish tips) and then screw it into the wheel. if its done right its great, needing little tlc and has great traction

[Roland]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

I'll try that then, we have a massive amount of bike tyres in the shed, so that's good. So far I've got a definite list of parts, all I need now is a safety switch which I understand already, and a RC motherboard which I'm slightly baffled by! More questions! (no surprise)
I have no idea what sort of interface I should be looking for, and what is a BEC? I looked it up but I don't think it's a big english cheese...

[woody]

Re: From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

The receiver would be your r/c mother board everything is controlled by this.

Note the receiver is about the size of a matchbox.

Don't panic about the channel port / plug markings they're fairly standard for all receivers and pertain to r/c planes.


Your ESC [ Electronic Speed Controller/s ] will simply plug into it...the one shown below is a DUAL speed controller it will control 2 motors.



The receiver needs a voltage supply of around 5v.... ( the receiver shown has a Voltage Range: 3.5 - 9.6V )...you could use a small battery pack to supply the receiver.



OR take a supply from your main batteries....we do this with a BEC [ Battery Eliminator Circuit ]



To confuse things even more your ESC... like the Scorpion pictured here ... may have a built in BEC