Cool, thanks for the advice. Where did you get the sticker sheets from?
That's a really cool looking robot by the way! :) Is it new?
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Cool, thanks for the advice. Where did you get the sticker sheets from?
That's a really cool looking robot by the way! :) Is it new?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0088HS52...051_TE_3p_dp_2
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0088HR7L...051_TE_3p_dp_1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0088HSOI...986871_TE_item
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0088HRPV...986871_TE_item
You will look at the size and think its far more than you ever need in your lifetime, and it is. But something 5 times smaller is only £2 off, so you might aswell get the stupid roll.
And yes, Utopia Mk2 is new to this year. Its first event was at Ally Pally in Jan. Has some problems relating to self righting atm
Haha, thanks very much! :D
Cool! Well, it certainly looks the business!
Ok, so I've just received a bunch of parts from hobbyking. (Yay!) But I'm starting to think I went a bit overkill when I bought XT90 connecters & 12 AWG wire for a featherweight. Not sure why I didn't ask for any advice on here - I was terrified of buying some with too low a rating and having everything blow up. :crazy: Thankfully I haven't opened anything so it can be returned/refunded, I think.
But anyway, what are recommended wires & connectors for a featherweight? Does it depend on the Motors/ESCs/Batteries used?
I use XT60s generally, and anything with a rating of 30amps or over is fine for drill motor drive. A good rule of thumb is that the connectors you use don't need to be any larger than the one on the battery, as that takes the most current of all of them. If you have the space, there's nothing wrong with using XT90s, they're just a little overkill unless you have a big electric weapon fitted. 12 AWG cable is about right for a feather if I remember correctly.
I use 12 and 14 awg wires in my machines.
XT90's are somewhat big but will do the job.
I tend to use Deans/XT connectors, but anything along that scale is fine. For drills you could use 14awg comfortably, but I would still make the main power lines (LiPo/fuse/link/up to distribution for the ESCs) 12awg. Spinners and big weapons in feathers use heavier (10awg and sometimes 8awg), so you'll use it up for sure. :)
Right ok, thanks for these quick responses! :D I was also a silly sausage and didn't buy the right size of heat shrink for covering the joins between connectors & wires. Just wondering what do people usually use for that?
Thinking I might need to buy more wire too, so I might as well return the XT90s and buy XT60s instead. Are XT60s ok for a removable link too?
Sorry about more questions, just wanted to double check: Is the connector on the end of this battery I've bought ( http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking...Lipo_Pack.html ) the same as this: http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking...0pcs_set_.html ?
And if it is the same, I'd therefore need to buy those connectors too, right?
I just wrap insulating tape around the solder joints instead of heatshrink, but I know most people like to use heatshrink for it... can be a bit of a pain if you forget to put the heatshrink on before soldering it up though.
XT60s are fine for a removable link; it's what I use, as well as quite a lot of people use.
And yeah, those connectors are the same as on the battery, so you'd need some of them... You could also use those instead of XT60s for the rest of the bot if you didn't want to buy 2 sets of connectors.
Cool, thanks very much! I might as well just use insulating tape then. :)
XT60s make great links because they have a very firm grip onto themselves which means they dont shake off easily.
Inversely however, they can sometimes be quite hard to remove by hand when you need to for the same reason :P
Make sure its either mounted well, or left completely loose and you wont get anything better for the ease of use
I would actually suggest you do try to use heatshrink. It's just good practice. All electrical products use heatshrink, which says something.
But then again, most electrical products don't need taking apart in a hurry :L You're right though, heatshrink is generally better practice, but I have more insulating tape than I do heatshrink or patience!
Going back to removable links; can't remember if it got mentioned before, but make sure it's secure and somewhere it can't get knocked out. Nothing is more annoying than losing a fight cause your link fell out :roll:
XT60 do close up over time making them a looser fit. You can wiggle the pins apart slightly to make them a tighter fit to reduce risk of the link falling out
I just bought some of these since they were the same as the connector that came with the battery:
https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...dProduct=34477
Ok, sure. Heat shrink it is, then. But what thickness of heat shrink is usually needed? I did order some a few days ago but turns out it is the wrong thickness. :/
The link has to be in an easy to reach place, though, right?
Thanks very much for these responses!
Those connectors are good and you put the wire through the connector then solder on the terminal, pulling the terminal back into the housing. Therefore you dont need heat shrink for these
The downside of these connectors is that they are quite long and a very tight fit. Therefore they are not a good pick for a removeable link. (the arena isnt well lit where you put your feather into and there isnt masses of time to fiddle about with an awkward connector)
Hm, right. I might get XT60s instead then since they are more compact. I'll think about it.
Thanks!
Many diy stores sell boxes with different ssized heat shrinks, these are a good investment imo as you will probably build more robots. And robots of different sizes. I myself have used them for fw, antweights and on cables in my car and i syill have plenty to go. I'd also recommend a cheap hot air gun for it
@ gizz
That's a really great idea! Thanks very much!
Ok, so basically my plan is to build a 4WD rambot with a wedge on the front and the back. I intend to use 10mm HDPE for Chassis/Armour, but I was wondering if HDPE is suitable for a wedge? Would HDPE be too soft to get the wedge close to the ground? As in, would the tip/end of the wedge become too blunt/rounded over to get underneath anything after a short amount of time?
Again, sorry about all these questions! :uhoh: The thread is already 6 pages long and I haven't even started to build the robot yet! (Though the DX6i Transmitter arrived in the post yesterday! Yay! :D )
Yeah, an HDPE wedge would likely get fairly blunt in just one fight.. However a simple way to do it may just be to make an HDPE wedge and then bolt a bit of sheet steel to the end of it to give it some strength. Something like 2mm mild steel sheet would probably work fine for non- spinner combat, as the HDPE behind it will stop it bending, and the steel on top will stop it going blunt.
Ok, thanks. Was a bit worried about this since I have no metal cutting tools/equipment. Might be able to scavenge something usable.
If it's just a flat piece of steel you'd be needing, once you get some dimensions give me a shout. Got some scraps of 2mm and 3mm kicking about the shed so may be able to cut you something to size.
That would be fantastic, thanks so much! Not sure about the dimensions yet, but I'll try and get something planned out. It would be more like 2 flat pieces if that's ok, as I plan for my robot to have a front and a rear wedge, but if it's not too much trouble and you're just using up scraps that would be really good of you. :D Thanks!
Can I PM you at a later date about dimensions and payment and things?
Overdrive had a HDPE wedge.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rapidrory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOs1x9v4Hwg
The moral of the story is make sure the HDPE doesn't flex into your spinning weapon...
But yeah, steel would be ideal if you can find a piece to fit, I'd definitely recommend that.
Yeah, not a problem. Two flat pieces is fine too, just didn't want to offer anything requiring welding or anything more complex, as the precision can sometimes be called into question :p
Haha, that's ok. 2 flat pieces would be superb, thanks very much! :)
Ok, so I was looking at these on Ranglebox.com: http://ranglebox.com/mechanical-products/
Just wondering if this is needed to join HDPE together, or can HDPE sheets be bolted directly to each other, without any joining elements? If it is necessary, would it be the M4 or M6 threaded bar I'd need?
And also, how would one go about cutting the bar to size? Is an angle grinder necessary?
I know this was mentioned on this thread by Flag Captured a while ago now - sorry for not asking about it sooner!
I'm a little bit away actually building much at the moment as I'm still having problems with the drill chucks from hell. None of my local shops had torx screwdrivers, but I'm going to a hobby shop in another town tomorrow so hopefully I can get this sorted!
HDPE is too soft to hold a thread. Use the m6 ranglebox. Use a hacksaw. Don't grind aluminum.
I've found HDPE can kinda hold a thread, I tend to just drill the appropriate tapping size hole then wind the bolt in with a cordless drill and it cuts it own thread that will last a fairly long time as long as it is not in full combat.
Also a lot of people just use ordinary wood screws to hold the panels together and as long as they are not remove and put back in too many times they shoudo hood just fine.
HDPE doesn't hold thread.
Ranglebox is just easy. Other solution is to use L angle and nut and bolt.
I have seen other solutions , like IKEA Tnuts or other fibreboard/MDF connection methodes.
Rangle Box is just Aluminium so you can cut it with a hacksaw with no problem and then file the ends neat, even Wet 'n' Dry sandpaper would do, its much softer than steel.Quote:
Originally Posted by dotDominic
HDPE can hold a thread, it has been done but given that tapping it requires a Tap and a turning tool and a drill of a specialist size, ege 6.8mm for an M8 bolt, I would suggest using barrel nuts for some parts too. Then you just need a drill and 2 normal drill bits, and M8 for the bolt to go in and a M12 for the barrel nut for example. A combination of that and Ranglebox will allow you to deal with almost any joining situation.
The M6 Ranglebox is aimed at the Featherweight class where as the M4 can be used strategically in feather but I would say lends itself better to the beetleweight class.
Right, so I'll use a combination of M6 Ranglebox and bolts with barrel nuts.
Thanks very much for the responses!
Both Ellis and Sam (Tormenta 2/Rango, Hatchet respectively) use barrel nuts in HDPE and swear by them. If you install them right, they're excellently strong! And as for the Ranglebox threaded rod, again used right it's really nice stuff. Think it held Tormenta 3 together this year, and I think Mario's used it on (Nebelwerfer?) to nice effect. Really handy!
Everything except the wedge on Tormenta 3 is held together with M6 Threaded Bar and barrelnuts. :)
Hatchet was all m6 barrel nuts in 20mm hdpe this year and it all held up amazingly well, put it this way, it fought 8 spinners at this years world championships and it's still in one piece.
It did also have a large chunk of hardox on the front which may have helped :P but yeah it can work pretty well...
Perfect, thanks very much! :)
Ok, so, finally managed to get come CAD stuff done. Took much longer than it should've but here's some pictures of what I intend to build. The design is pretty basic, and I hope you'll excuse the crudeness of the model as I haven't really done anything like this before.
[EDIT] - The photos should be viewable here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131745614@N05
The size of the robot is 40cm Width, 36cm Length, 10 cm Height (Including Wheels).
Probably could be more compact but I'm not really sure how much space the wires, removable link, fuse, Battery mounts or ESC mounts are going to take up. I will probably need some sorta spacer between the wheels and the bulkheads but I'm not sure how thick that'll need to be yet, so I've not put it in the diagram. So yeah, if anyone has any opinions or has noticed any major problems with this design I'd really appreciate the responses, thanks!
Should be able to finally get the flippin' drill chucks off this afternoon, too!
Just to say i cant see any of the attachments, not sure if thats a problem with the site.
If you have links to the pics, you can use [img] [/img] aswell - just put the link in the middle, can even be a facebook picture link such as below for example
Link: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...81220408_o.jpg
[img] https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...81220408_o.jpg [/img]
(Without spaces)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...81220408_o.jpg