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Thread: Help with choosing parts for a first robot, please.

  1. #11
    Welcome!

    I have an Orange RX R620 receiver with a DX5e and it's great when it works. When it works being the key thing, as it can be a temperamental so-and-so... If you can get something a bit more reliable, definitely do - it'll save you plenty of time troubleshooting.

    The parts list you've posted would be a solid start too, most people start out as 'drill bricks'. Battery should be fine, rule of thumb with overvolting is no more than 1.5x the voltage (4S lipo is 14.4v, so you're fine there). In all honesty, if you upped your battery capacity a little (maybe 3000-3500mAh) you could double up on the drills and have a 4wd pusher if that's a way you wanted to go. Tormenta 2 used 4x 550 drill motors and that had plenty of push behind it... The TZ85s are great little things too, used them in all my combat machines and never blown one yet even after taking plenty of stalled motors. I have broken two but that's because spinners happened, and are the reason we can't have nice things... (one was fixed in the end pretty easily though)

    Also worth a mention, ranglebox.com stock M6 threaded bar which would be really useful for construction, even more so if you don't have a wealth of tools available! If you want to go for a decent chassis material too, look for 15-20mm HDPE, directplastics.co.uk sell that, it's great stuff, easy to work with and can take a lot of punishment. That, and it's relatively cheap.

  2. #12
    A dx5e by spectrum is a cheap yet 'solid' start setting you back 50 pound or so.
    The dx6i is more advanced, programmable transmitter that costs a bit more but is truly worth it.

    The orange rx620 receiver is one I use repeatedly. Never failed me yet. Available at hobbyking for under a tenner.

  3. #13
    Thanks. I've found that Dx5e Transmitter on ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spektrum-D...-/361265447291

    It's way less than £50, though. Has the '3 switch version' part of it got anything to do with that?

  4. #14
    I agree with Niels, if I had the money now I'd definitely upgrade to a DX6i or something, the DX5e has a number of problems, notably with the mixing, if you don't have an external one. It is cheap though and I've used mine on all my machines thus far.

  5. #15
    Bite the bullet and go straight for a DX6 or DX6i. There is a new DX6 with a fixed transmitter, its more expensive than the DX6i which is one ebay with no RX for just under £70.
    A transmitter is something you may as well buy once and do it properly, given you can control every robot you ever make (pretty much) from then on with no issues.
    Last edited by Eventorizon; 29th April 2015 at 22:10.

  6. #16
    Id recommend a DX6I aswell, just simply because if you ever become interested in the sport it will work out cheaper in the long run.

    Also about Links, definitely use one. Much harder to get stuck inside a robot, and if it catches fire theres something nice about holding a little bit of wire to let you know its otherwise all safe :P - plus you will need to use links for the battery, so whilst your doing it you may aswell.

    Also, check out the following link for ESCs and Threaded bar - will help with structure and reducing Australian postage

    ranglebox.com

  7. #17
    Hi Dominic, here are the links to the conversion gear I was talking about earlier. The basic principle is that you solder (or join with connectors if it's easier) the 2.4GHz conversion module into a transmitter of a different frequency, such as 40MHz, and it then transmits on the 2.4GHz frequency. There are three simple connections that need to be made. Positive, negative and signal/PPM.

    The positive and negative connections can be easily made as there are many points inside a transmitter on the circuit boards and wires where you can connect to. The signal/PPM wire can be a bit trickier to find, but if the donor transmitter is, for example, a 6-channel Futaba model, they are usually pretty straightforward.

    The conversion, or 'hack', module: http://www.giantshark.co.uk/product/...ication-system

    You'd also need a compatible receiver;

    4-channel: http://www.giantshark.co.uk/product/...ceiver-v8r4-ii
    8-channel: http://www.giantshark.co.uk/product/...annel-receiver

    And then you'd need a donor transmitter. This is the Futaba Field Force 6 transmitter. I've converted two of these (and a Skysport 6) to run on 2.4GHz and they do a great job: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RC-Futaba-...item2c98680bb0

    Unfortunately that's a bit of a higher price than I got mine for a while back, so if you add on the cost of the conversion kit and receiver, it would bring the total cost to around £100 (give or take with P&P). On the whole, that's still a good price for a 6-channel programmable transmitter with six different model memories (allowing specific parameters to be calibrated for up to six different robots). When converted, you can also 'bind' this transmitter with multiple receivers so you can use one transmitter to control several different robots (not all at once!) much like the DX6i. However the added work required to convert the transmitter may mean that for a beginner such as yourself, getting a 2.4GHz radio such as the DX6i may be more tempting as it's all ready to go. Just wanted to offer up an alternative though as the failsafe and bind processes on FrSky gear is ridiculously simple and proven in the arena.

    Where in Scotland are you based? The Kinematic Events beetleweight shows will be at a few Hungry Horse pubs in Scotland in early August, and Robots Live are probably going to be at the Glasgow Comic-Con at the end of September if you're looking to get along and watch (or maybe compete in ) some robot fights.

  8. #18
    Welcome to the forum Dominic, probably a bit late now but i'll share my experience. My first event was the UK champs last year and my robot did absolutely awful, despite that i learned so much from that one event that i was able to build a fairly competitive robot this year. Whether your robot is up to the task of fighting or not i would suggest trying to get to an event and put it in some fights, it'll probably lose but it gives you the chance to see how it performs and any problems will show up immediately.

    With regards to radio gear, i went for a very cheap Blade tx and whilst it does work it's far from ideal and this year in particular it failed and my robot went into a full speed spin whilst me and another roboteer were leaning over it. Alex (Eventorizon) was kind enough to lend me his Dx6i and i have to say they are well worth the money, very easy to use and just an all round fantastic bit of kit. I used that with an Orange r615 from Hobbyking which is a great, cheap rx, didn't mis a beat all event.

    I hope your build goes well, you've definitely come to the right place though, everybody here will offer advice in bucket loads and there is a wealth of useful info to be found reading through build diaries.

  9. #19
    Thanks very much for all these responses, guys! I've been combing the internet for information about this for the past 2 - 3 weeks, and for whatever reason never thought that the Fighting Robots Association forums would have information about fighting robots!

    I'll go ahead and get a Dx6i, then. Building robots is something I've wanted to do since I were a little tot watching it on TV, so I don't think I'm going to lose interest anytime soon. (I'm more concerned about running out of money for this rather than running out of interest.) And I'll definitely include a removable link, thanks!

    @RogueTwoRobotics
    I live in Perthshire, and by the time Comic-con is on I'll be at University in St. Andrews, so I'm not sure if I will be able to go that. :/ Are there usually any events here in Scotland? I thought they were pretty much always in England, so I've only been to one in Barnsley about 5 years ago. If there were any more local events at suitable dates I'd definitely go, competing or not! :P
    Last edited by dotDominic; 30th April 2015 at 17:59.

  10. #20
    Ok so my drills arrived yesterday, Yay! But the reverse threaded screw in the clutch seems to have a torx head, and annoyingly I don't have screwdrivers for those. This may seem like a silly question, but does anyone who has opened up Black and Decker drills before know what size screwdriver is generally needed for these? (I'd totally measure it myself but I can't really be accurate as the chuck is in the way.) I'd rather spend money on 1 good screwdriver that fits instead of a pack of different sized naff ones which will get chewed up easily.

    I'm starting to think of trying a 4WD wedge robot, but I've just watched a Youtube video showing the insides of Tormenta 2 and noticed that it used only 2 85A Botbitz ESCs for 4 wheel drive. I was just wondering how that is wired, and if people usually use 2 ESCs for 4 Wheel Drive Robots? I thought that only 1 of those ESCs was used for each motor.
    Thanks.

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