Antweight bits for beginners

[BeligerAnt]

One more guide to how to put together the fourth class of antweight - lifter/flipper

http://goo.gl/LUTjl

There are many other options of battery types, speed controllers, etc but this shows one possible solution.

[dcr raptor]

Would I need an esc to be able to use a gear motor to power an axe?

[joey_picus]

You don't *need* one, but it's the most practical option compared to other methods - in a pinch, the servo board from a standard servo might do the job (as explained in Gary's excellent page above ). For Razor Wind (my axe robot in progress when midterms are done) I'm planning on using a full-blown single channel ESC, although everything seems to be quite expensive...

[razerdave]

There are not many single channel controllers around, only real AW size ones are in the states (Banebots, Fingertechs and (if you have the weight) Wasp's). A decent servo board will suffice with the right mod.

[Rhys]

Funnily enough Dave, I was going to ask you this the other day, how do you fire the axe on Kill a chav? Is that a servo board, or do you have some kind of switch/esc?

[joey_picus]

Now that I think about it, would it be possible to take a servo board, move the potentionometer to the axe...axle, and with a bit of playing around have a motor driven axe that behaves like a servo?

[daliad100]

It would, might have to play with potentiometer values or hack your transmitter to get the extra travel.

Simplest way I can think of is put a resistor on each side of the pot track making it effectively longer so it has to travel further to get the same proportion of voltages hence your axe travel falls within the limits of the pot and transmitter.

[razerdave]

Rhys:
I use a scorpion mini for both Kill a Chav and Baby Hell, and a spring return DPDT switch on the TX so it doesn't stall (it does, but its a fraction of a second). I have since used a fingertech board to the same effect but for 4g lighter in someone else's robot (a Baby Hell clone).

[sidon100uk]

Thank you for the information Joey it was very erm.... scary and informative. Love you website but wow love your bots. Pity your in Canada would love to see them.
I'm still waiting for my radio gear to arrive so not looked into a design yet, but my 4 year old daughter is insisting on some sort of John Deere style tractor or maybe a Thomas the tank engine style so it looks like i have my work cut out for me either way i go.

Got i say thought i think i will start with a Sumo just so i can set used to working with the electronics.

[joey_picus]

Depending when you get to compete you will get to see them, I'll be back in the UK come September hopefully Thanks for the comments too, I'm glad I can be of use to someone and feel free to ask any other questions. Good luck! ^^