Advice/ideas on my design please

Hello im planning on building a featherweight robot with a spinning disk on the front

Here is my rough drawing
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...ans/ROBOT3.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...ans/ROBOT4.jpg

I know the design is basic but I just want to get to grips with building my first robot :P

i am thinking of buying the following from robochallange
12v motor/gear box combo with holders
100mm wheels
battle switch for the disk?
Im not sure what speed controller or batterys I need, any ideas on these or what else I need??

Thanks in advance 8)

What sort of budget do you have? You got any experiance with r/c models? i.e remote controlled cars or planes? You'll need to get urself some radio gear first.. batterys and speed controllers depend on budget

Welcome to the forum :)

No experiance with robots, models or radio control at all.

My trades car body repair so iv no problem with metal work or the fabrication side of things,also Iv experiance with setting up aftermarket ECUs and wiring into a cars origional wiring loom. So I feel I have the basic skills but I have no idea what to buy or where to start building something from scratch :uhoh:

I have about £300 for my first robot, do you think this is realistic?

Yeah 300 is a good budget to start with.

Pickup a spektrum DX5 or somthing similar for your first set, there pretty cheap but pretty good for the money.
drills etc from robochallenge - good choice.
Speed controller- alot of people will have different views - depends what voltage you want to run on...
For batteries some nicad's would be a good start (like the 7.2v racing packs from an r/c car can be picked up for cheap these days along with a cheapish quick charger... just get urself a few packs and run them to give you 14.2v

If your buying from the robochallenge guys they will probably be able to sort out you with some good nicads or nimh's and a pair of speedos at the same time.

Were are you based? its always a good idea to find out who your local teams are incase you need abit of advice or help.

Get urself to the next closest event too and come and chat to the guys in the pits- most people are willing to show you there machines if you want abit of inspiration

Thank you for the good advice, I live in burnley area but I dont mind driving to meet people, I was even going to drive to robochallange in birmingham to talk to the guys there and buy some bits, anyone know if there are any teams near me?

I take it the parts are linked in this chain

battery>speed controller>reciever>motor?

would I need a seperate battery for a weapon?

Sorry for the newbie questions haha

Don't worry about the new questions, we all started somewhere!

It's more like

................receiver
....................\/
battery -> speed controller => motor

£300 should be enough.
The reciever is linked to the speed controller but not the motor or the main batteries. Gary has the main circuit.
The weapon does not need a seperate battery if the main batteries have enough current. About 4000mah (4ah) should run the average feather. Spinner may need slightly more.

Hi there i am from the big nipper team and live in barrowford which is close to burnley (10 mins) and would be happy to help.

Graeme.
Team Big Nipper.

Awsome thanks for the answers guys, Im understanding it more now.

Thats great graeme It would be good to come and have a chat to you about it all :D

One last question... will any reciever work with any speed controller? or do they need to be compatable in some way?

Thanks

theoretically yes. In practise two potential flaws:
1 the cables have power+, power - and signal but there is no legal order on wires or pins. Though futaba order is most common.
2 the newer recievers run on 3.3v to conserve power but some old speed controllers are designed for the old 5v input.
Keep an eye on them. The manuals should tell you.