From The Ground Up (Advice Thread)

**Laser** · 4th April 2011, 19:14

another charger that is very reliable
http://www2.ripmax.net/item.asp?itemid= ... ry=090-020

**Roland** · 4th April 2011, 19:35

Thanks for your quick replies guys! Very helpful, The chargers look cheaper than I expected them to be! Which is somewhat of a relief.

I'm pretty set for now then

Something that started bugging me even though I've not at that stage yet is how to lengthen axles? You can't really weld things on as you have to have it exactly straight, so can you buy sleeves that fit on? or just make your own?

**harry hills** · 4th April 2011, 19:46

make your design smaller of buy a new axel

**webby** · 13th April 2011, 16:20

Originally Posted by Roland

Hello! I am Roland, I'm new to the forum and thought I should introduce myself before I start rambling.

Here goes.

I'm 14 years old, and I'm a total newbie to building robots.
I'm wanting to have building Robots as my active hobby, I no longer see sitting and playing Xbox all day as a sufficient and productive way to spend my life, I enjoy engineering and electronics from what experience I have. I also want to make my Grandpa proud before he passes away.
I'd like to say that I've looked into building robots for a couple of months now seriously, and have considered it for more than a few year - my grandpa was an offshore BP engineer, and whenever I visit we spend a lot of time in his garage making things (Which has given me a small amount of experience in using clamps, angle grinders, saws, drills and the spinney thing which makes stair banisters of which name surpasses me!) which gave me the idea to start. So I have come to the conclusion that my best bet was to get advice from real professionals rather than spending endless hours on Google. So I'm starting from right at the bottom. What I want to know is, can YOU help me with getting started?

Specifically, I would like to know,
What tools do I need?
Where and for what price can I get tools?
Where and for what price can I get internals?
What internals do I need?
How much space will I need to build featherweights?
Where can I learn the electronics and engineering to build one?
What method of transport other than trailer/boot (Which I would still have access to) would you suggest?
If I were to get into a bit of a bother, would anyone be able to give me advice on what to do?
How exactly do YOU deal with the risks of building robots?

So, those are my questions, I know it's a long list, and I thank anyone in advance for helping out.
Oh, and money isn't a problem, I earn round Â£60 a month from pocket money and helping my dad and I am looking for a part time job + whatever I earn from items I sell using amazon/ebay, I'm certain my Parents will support me when I have understood enough of it to be trusted to not do anything too awful and I can show myself as willing to act mature about it and to prove I can handle the responsibility.

-Roland (Sorry for the awful grammar)

Edit: I'm not expecting to have a robot in two months time, I understand this possibly and most likely will take a long time possibly more than a year, more than two!

hi roland i am also soon to be 14 (in may) and like u i also like engineering and electronics and my uncle has a garage were he builds replica f1 cars out of fiberglass and stuff so we have a lot in common nice to meet you! ps whats ur second name? thanks ashley webb

**Roland** · 16th May 2011, 15:09

In reply your above post my second names Spencer.

Well, the whole plans gone a bit shambles, but it's also sort of good I suppose, my graupners which I ordered on the 3rd of april, still hadn't come so I've gone and asked them to refund me as apparently Graupner are having factory issues so they doubted I'd get them any time soon. After speaking to John Frizell I think I might use drill motors instead; trouble is I have 8 (I originally bought 6?) 125mm castor wheels without nut inserts, so I'm not entirely sure what I should do with them...?

**typhoon_driver** · 16th May 2011, 15:14

buy nuts, heat them with a soldering iron (leave it on them for a long time) and press them in, and hey presto, you got wheels which nut inserts. As long as the bore is less than around 12mm?

Worst case throw them on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-8-UNF-HEX-FULL- ... 3f099c26a3