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All things antweight

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marksie
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:25 am
Location: Sandhurst

Hello people

Post by marksie »

Hi
My names Paul and have decided to try and build a Antweight, (cant wait to get all the bits to start building).
I've got a not bad basic idea of electronics and things but is there any major points that get over looked alot by begginers which i will have to look out for in building my ant, any advice will be much appreciated.
Paul :D
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Simon Windisch
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Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2003 12:00 am
Location: Reading
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Post by Simon Windisch »

Hey Sandhurst, that's only 25 minutes away from me.

Welcome to the forum.

I would suggest you build a basic pusher to start with and then get more complicated. Come and see us in Aylesbury on May 22nd.

Also see http://windisch.co.uk/electra/technolog ... _servo.htm and http://windisch.co.uk/electra/howto/build_a_robot.htm
Remote-Controlled Dave
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Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

Hey, I'm not the newbie anymore :D

Welcome.

I just finished my first one (without any basic electronics knowledge, so you should be alright!) and the advice that kept coming up is to just build something basic, bring it to an event and learn all you can from other people, before going away and perfecting your own (or ripping off other peoples ideas in other words. :P ) Everyones real friendly though, and adivce is on hand for anything, specially on forum.
Die Gracefully Robotics
Winner - AWS 39
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BeligerAnt
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Location: Brighton
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Post by BeligerAnt »

Welcome Paul!

The best advice is the old adage K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Start with a pusher (harder to build a really good one than many people think!) or maybe a servo-powered lifting arm, rather than a full-body spinner or walker (or even full body spinning walker like PixieDust!)

Browse the forum and members' web-sites (links at bottom of posts, or click on "Memberlist" at the top of the page) for hints, tips and how-to's. If you still have a burning question, feel free to post it in the "Questions" section.

I would suggest sticking to modified servos for drive to start with. They give adequate performance and are by far the simplest way to go. Wheels can be quite easily home-made, some people use Lego wheels.

Choose your R/C gear carefully, it is the single most expensive part of most ants and will generally get reused for several ants. This topic has been recently covered on the forum, I think it's in the Questions section.

Come and see us at an event as soon as you can, Aylesbury in May, or AWS17 in June/July (watch the forum for details).

Good luck and have fun!
Gary, Team BeligerAnt
marksie
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:25 am
Location: Sandhurst

Post by marksie »

Thanks for the quick responses, I'm slowly recieving my bits and modified two servo's today and had a go at making a quick Ant just to see if i understood it and it all worked!!!
So just got to wait for the lighter bits to arrive to finally make a permanant one.
Will hopefully be at your next meeting if just to walk around but maybe with a Ant.

Paul :D
josh
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Post by josh »

hi

i just finished my first ant the thing to look out for is when the servos some times work and the u take em appart and the speed controller decides to stop working :evil: i bought 4 servos before it worked ok for me :D
tom of technology
Posts: 122
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:07 pm

Post by tom of technology »

hi


just finished my first ant cant weright to start the next one!!( thats when ive got enough pocket money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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