Some questions about building an Antweight
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Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
For me, I'd either
* Get some off the shelf tiny steel or aluminum right-angle brackets - but most are too large for antweights
* Get an extruded alu right-angle piece and drill some holes in it
OR
* Strip-bend the polycarbonate.
Perhaps the strongest and lightest way is to strip-bend the plastic. This is a technique which works well if you have a suitable machine or rig to do it; it can be built quite easily with a bench PSU, some nichrome wire, a few croc clips and some rudimentary joinery. (NB: be safe )
A hot air gun can also work to locally heat the plastic to bend it, but it's quite tricky to get it to bend in the correct place, especially for the 2nd bend in the same piece.
I've used a "soldering rework" hot air gun to locally heat small pieces. The bigger hot air guns used by decorators, etc, are much too big for the parts on an antweight.
Or you could just put it in an oven at a low-ish temperature, I'm not sure what the right temp is for PC, but for acrylic it's about 140C.
* Get some off the shelf tiny steel or aluminum right-angle brackets - but most are too large for antweights
* Get an extruded alu right-angle piece and drill some holes in it
OR
* Strip-bend the polycarbonate.
Perhaps the strongest and lightest way is to strip-bend the plastic. This is a technique which works well if you have a suitable machine or rig to do it; it can be built quite easily with a bench PSU, some nichrome wire, a few croc clips and some rudimentary joinery. (NB: be safe )
A hot air gun can also work to locally heat the plastic to bend it, but it's quite tricky to get it to bend in the correct place, especially for the 2nd bend in the same piece.
I've used a "soldering rework" hot air gun to locally heat small pieces. The bigger hot air guns used by decorators, etc, are much too big for the parts on an antweight.
Or you could just put it in an oven at a low-ish temperature, I'm not sure what the right temp is for PC, but for acrylic it's about 140C.
Robots: Betsie - RaspberryPi controlled flipper bot with gyro stablisation - too clever for her own good?
Stacie - tidy flipper; 4wd driven by hair bands
Stacie - tidy flipper; 4wd driven by hair bands
- peterwaller
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Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
If you are looking to bend polycarbonate up to 1.5 mm thickness you can just cold bend it in a vice or with pliers and you actually get a neater fold.
The thing you must not do is score the line as it will then snap along the score line.
The thing you must not do is score the line as it will then snap along the score line.
Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
I can confirm that the dasmikro doesn't have a receiver built in, you will need a separate one (the lemonrx is good).
As for polycarbonate, i wouldn't recommend hot forming, it's very easy to overheat it which causes it to be very brittle when it cools. As Pete said up to 1.5mm can be bent cold, and you shouldn't need thicker than that for an antweight.
As for polycarbonate, i wouldn't recommend hot forming, it's very easy to overheat it which causes it to be very brittle when it cools. As Pete said up to 1.5mm can be bent cold, and you shouldn't need thicker than that for an antweight.
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Zero - rambot - - Axiom - axebot - - Valkyrie - drum spinner
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Zero - rambot - - Axiom - axebot - - Valkyrie - drum spinner
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RBMK - quad spinner gyro walker - - Duality - dual spinner gyro walker
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Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
Ok thanks for the replies. I will cold bend the polycarbonate. How would I hinge the flipper?
- peterwaller
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Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
I used to use a single piece of piano wire that went across the full width of the robot but now I use 2mm dia carbonfibre rod as it is lighter.
Robot
Rod on ebay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CARBON-FIBRE ... SwirZTtBOB
Robot
Rod on ebay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CARBON-FIBRE ... SwirZTtBOB
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Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
How did you go about attaching the flipper plate to the wire. Without 3D printed rings to fit through. I can't seem to find a decent hindge system.
I've glued paper clip ends onto the flipper panel which has worked so far. For battle though. I feel glue will not hold for long.
I was thinking maybe using this...
https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dolls-House-Mi ... SwGwlaL5uG
I've glued paper clip ends onto the flipper panel which has worked so far. For battle though. I feel glue will not hold for long.
I was thinking maybe using this...
https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dolls-House-Mi ... SwGwlaL5uG
- peterwaller
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- Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2002 12:00 am
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Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
Brass is very heavy why not cut the flipper plate with two tabs on the side which you bend up and drill to fit the rod.
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Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
Ahhh smart idea.
Thanks
Thanks
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Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
With regards to ordering the DasMikro, should I order option A, B or C. I'm guessing A as it has built-in tank style mixing and I think the robot drives like a tank.
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Re: Some questions about building an Antweight
Yes you want option A