Newbie - help neededHow do

[Eventorizon]

Welcome David

To save us repeating ourselves, since this kind of thread is started every time someone new joins, you are best to start by reading and getting familiar with the Build Rules - http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/cont...s-and-safety_1 - then I would read through the various Build Logs in that section of the forum. Every question you could ever ask, and I mean this literally, has already been answered in those sections so they are the best place to start.

You need to become familiar with the current types of construction techniques and the parts used if you are going to build a good, reliable robot. Below are several of the new starters threads, just like you, as well as several build logs of existing/veteran teams that are worth a good read!

New Guys -
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...-need-help-plz
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...t-robot-please
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...zontal-spinner


Existing-
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...go-build-diary [Diary of Rango the 3rd Seed in 2014, built by Ellis Ware]
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...oguetwo-robots [Diary of Drumroll, one of the longest running drum spinners by Jamie McHarg]
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...mini-hypnodisc [Covers 360, 540, 720 and 722, 4 amazing robots by David Moulds]
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/thre...on-build-diary [My teams own thread, contains a lot of basic stuff near the start, good to see the progression of a design over time]

There are many others out there. Richie the £50 FW is a good one for building a very effective machine on a budget, NST is basically engineering pornograpy along with the Big Nipper thread.

Have fun reading and good luck!

PS - Hardox (Which is a brand of Wear Steel used on most modern UK robots, and bulldozers) is superior to mild steel in almost every way, however it comes at a cost. I would stick to plastics initially as they are easy to obtain, easy to cut/shape and cheap. My first robot Conker was basically all plastic and many robots still are!