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Hello, I am new to this sort of stuff and I am really interested in competing in Featherweight competitions in Robot Battling. The only issue with that is I don't know where to get the parts (I know that you can find the motor and battery in an 18v Drill) and how to put them together. I know that this is not where I should post this thread, but I do not know where. Please respond to where I can get the items.
First, welcome to the Forums! Always good to have new roboteers.
Second, can you tell us what kind of experience you have, if any, and how much you know about the robots in general.
There are many threads in this section asking exactly the same question... here is a excerpt of some part reconsiderations that were suggested to another newcomer just this week...
2x Botbitz TZ85A speed controllers
1x Orange RX R620 receiver (or equivalent)
Spektrum transmitter (again, or equivalent, I have a DX5e)
Pair of cordless drills/see if anyone's selling a set of GR01/2 gearmotors (nopw our
12v battery, I would say 3S LiPo but I'd probably advise newcomers against jumping straight into LiPo batteries because there's extra rules and regs on them all (and safety precautions). Probably a 12v NiMh or something would do the trick.
Add wheels and a chassis, you're good to go - wheels can be found on various places, or done yourself (Ellis - https://www.youtube.com/user/TeamExpat/ - has some great tutorials on this, as well as https://www.youtube.com/user/RobowarsNSW) and a chassis can be constructed out of wood, or HDPE with very basic tools.
Look in the Build Diary's section for hits tips and building techniques. We tend to suggest your first machine is just a push bot or an electric lifter to help you get the basics down of you have very little experience. You will learn the most by competing and going to events so build something, turn up, have fun, learn and then you can sit down and design a serious bot!
Good Luck!
I posted it in featherweight because there was no hobbyweight discussion. I was planning to start with a 12lb combat bot.
For experience, I am a high school student who is interested in mechanics and engineering. I have no experience what so ever, and I just want to start. I am planning on going to some conventions (Dragoncon and such) in the US to practice/ battle, because that is where I live.
To be honest, you'd probably find a very similar parts list for the 12lb-ers to the one posted above, just the same as a featherweight but with less armour. Of course, you could find smaller motors or go brushless in the future if you wanted to do so but for a first build I'd keep it simple and go for a pushy brick type one with maybe a lifter or an axe if you wanted an active weapon.
Dragoncon's table top events seem excellent too for newcomers, on account of them being geared more to being a 'show' rather than full on combat, so you'll be able to get plenty of practice in before going up against any of those nasty spinners.
What sort of tooling do you have, or have access to? That will probably be integral to what materials you end up using!
I have no clue what you are saying in your first paragraph TBH. For my first Combat Robot, I am planning on purchasing a starter robot without the chassis, everything (Wheels, Transmitter & Receiver, ESC, Motor, Battery & Charger, Wheels, and Wiring for a low price.
My dad is a race car driver and a pinball expert, and he has many tools that I could use. I got the idea of using a spring loaded rubber band attacker that is on a pinball machine to cover my offensive Combat Robot and push all opponents away. (IE:Attachment 4833)
What Matt was saying was the parts that Alex (Eventorizon) listed could still be used in a 12lb machine but obviously in a smaller and less armoured chassis. You say you're planning to buy all of those things for a low price? Does that mean you already have somebody to buy them from or is it just a plan that you'll find someone willing to sell them to you cheap?
I'm not sure how effective that would be as a weapon TBH, I can't imagine it would have enough power to push other bots away with much force and even if it did I don't see rubber bands surviving for very long.
If you're targeting Dragon Con, I'm guessing you're somewhere in the southeastern part of the US, so I'll pass out a few useful links-
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RoboCommunity/ -This is the general robotics community page on Facebook, tends to be a bit US-centric but covers a wide range of stuff
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AtlantaRobotFightClub/ -Group focused on robot combat in the Atlanta, GA area
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/...QxMzEwNTA3MA-- -This is the Yahoo group for Robot Battles
Also, I put together a presentation recently that I gave at a local makerspace (Freeside- https://wiki.freesideatlanta.org ) which can be found here- http://nearchaos.net/RobotCombat101.rar It's focused around combat in the southeastern US and has a good deal of links to vendors that may sell what you're looking for.
Hiya. Before you build anything get to a couple of events, take pictures, sounds sad but take a notepad and pen, talk to everyone, look at how the majority of stuff goes together, which websites do they all use to get their bits etc? The different countries and regions have different rules and common build techniques because certain materials are readily available. For example, the UK is full of plastic drill powered robots as it's what's readily available. The US is full of beetle and hobby weight stuff, and there are a few sites that sell the running gear locally to be able to put one together (wheels with the right hubs for the common motors, ESC's and batteries etc.).