new non roller antweight?

[Hogi]

hi everyone, I am looking to build my own ant. In the past, all my robots have been built for me. I am looking to build one myself once I get the money. it would have to be either a walker or a clusterbot, as I already have three rollers. which one would be easiest, and what is the cheapest and easiest way to build it? all advise much appreciated .

Dan.

[Andrew_Hibberd]

Hi Dan

They each have positive and negatives.

Cluster
Twice the cost
less armour
good for tactics
need a second driver

Walker
Complex mechanism
more weight for weapon
less speed and control

Simplest walking mechanism is a cam, the leg has a slot which gives the movement.

[Hogi]

thanks for the info andy. on second thoughts I think i'll just go for a two wheel drive antweight roller pusher for my first build. does anyone know a site that sells cheap modified, speed hacked servos and wheels to go on them? mod servo ants are far cheaper than geared motor driven ones and probably a lot easier for me to wire up.

[haz]

I don't think anywhere sells pre modded servos, and nowhere will sell speedhacked ones.
You'll have to hack them yourself or many people on here, myself included are happy to help

[Hogi]

the antshop on this site sells pre modified servos, however i'm not sure if they're speed hacked or not...

[haz]

If you ask, they can probably be speed hacked for you.

[Hogi]

i changed my mind on the weapon. is there any way to build a spinner blade using a coping saw, a soldering iron and a small handheld electric drill? that's about the limit of my toolkit.

[Hogi]

looking at the pictures of kwijebo, I think i've got my head round it so I think I may yet go for a walker spinner. however, i'm not sure what i'd need to make the legs out of and what cam would do the job? thanks anyway for the servo information haz. it might come in handy on a future project.

[BeligerAnt]

I would consider a walker spinner something of a long-term project. It's certainly achievable, but not the sort of thing you can put together in a weekend
With only hand tools and limited funds and experience building a walking mechanism will be a challenge. By no means impossible, but you will learn a lot and almost certainly go through a few iterations before getting to a usable mechanism.
Similarly with a spinner, you can make one using only simple hand tools (see Antipathy) but it takes some time and effort to make and balance the spinner correctly. Also take care when building the spinner - an unbalanced spinner can be scary and dangerous!

I'd suggest you do go for a walking spinner, but don't plan on having it finished in time for the AWS in March. Take your time over it, get the walking mechanism going first, then work on the spinner and get it perfect in isolation before integrating it with the rest of the robot. The last thing you want is to have an out-of-balance spinner wreck your nice new walking mech!

As for leg materials, you could use polycarbonate, HDPE or aluminium. All are quite rugged but easy to work with hand tools. Various suppliers on Ebay sell A4 sheets of polycarbonate in a variety of thicknesses for a few pounds.

Good luck with it!

[Hogi]

thanks for the encouragement. i think maybe i'll go for a servo weapon instead of a spinner to make it easier. an axe maybe. however, i'll do as you say and perfect the drive system first before worrying about the weapon. i've got to wait until i get the funds though. ( easter at the earliest. )