team hectic fleaweight build diary.

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Hogi
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Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:47 pm
Location: basingstoke

team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Hogi »

hi guys. so ive got a nice amount of birthday money left and i think i'm gonna take the challenge and build a flea. i am confident as transit ant wasn't even intended to be particularly light ( just light enough to fit the bug in the cluster) and it ended up coming out at only 100 grams. i fugure if i make a smaller version with less 2mm hdpe and more 1mm pollycarbonate in the design it should be possible to get a decent enough 2WD pusher within the fleaweight limits.

initial quieries:

1: are fleaweights gonna still be popular in the foreseeable future or will beetleweights take over them?

can anyone give me a link to a small enough lipo pack please.

how nasty do fleaweight spinners tend to be?

is the FWS double elimination?

thanks guys, all advice and replies will be apreciated.
Daniel Jackson.

Team Hectic.

Many antweights

Super antweights: territorial.

Fleaweights: fleadom fighter, gaztons.

Featherweights: hectic (under construction)
Rapidrory
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:54 pm

Re: team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Rapidrory »

Don't think that beetles and fleas are mutually exclusive really. With smaller parts becoming cheaper, It's getting easier to build fleas. I'm probably gonna have 4 fleas by the next AWS, so shouldn't be short on them.. I'm also planning on building a beetle at some point, but considering fleas take less than half an hour to throw together (or at least, mine do :L) then building a beetle's not really gonna affect my fleaweights.

My fleas use exactly the same parts as my antweights... In fact both Haggis and Nuts were meant to be ants but just happened to be light enough and small enough to class as fleas (Haggis is only 70g). Basically, as long as you have a fairly light chassis, you can get away with using the same parts as you would for an ant, just packed a little tighter. As such, I just use the 180mah 2 cell Lipos from Hobbyking that I use for everything.

Fleabite is the only fleaweight spinner I can think of, and it's pretty vicious (when it works :L). I might put a fleaweight spinner together as well at some point... Basically, a little armour wouldn't be a terrible idea, especially if you want to cluster it.

I can't remember if the FWS is double elimination, but it probably says somewhere on the events page for the last AWS..
Rory Mangles - Team Nuts

Robots: Nuts 2 and many more...

NanoTwo Motor Controllers: https://nutsandbots.co.uk/product/nanotwodualesc
Remote-Controlled Dave
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Re: team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

Fleaweights are actually getting more popular, with more teams taking on the challenge, and there will always be space for them regardless of beetles (I have no interest in beetles whatsoever but have three fleaweights).
Like Rory, I tend to use the same parts in fleas as in ants; the same motors, batteries and controller. The hardest part isn't really the weight limit, but the 3" cube. I have built loads of light enough robots that I haven't been able to squeeze into the cube to compete.
There are a few more fleaweight spinners than Fleabite. Divinity and Ickle are pretty consistently always entered now, and Rhys sometimes brings one along too. Think Will is building one as well. Same as the ants though, they can be vicious, but also beatable, and its been a while since I truly lost something important to a fleaweight.
The FWS is always run to double elimination unless there is a particularly high sign up for the AWS and the organiser cuts it down, but wherever possible it is double, then the same entry rules as the ants (3 rollers, 1 cluster/walker max).
Good luck bud. One of the most successful fleaweights I can remember, Catatonia, was a simple 2 wheeled pusher so it can be done.
Die Gracefully Robotics
Winner - AWS 39
Hogi
Posts: 1002
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:47 pm
Location: basingstoke

Re: team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Hogi »

thanks guys. work on the chasis began today. i've planned out where the battery will go. just hope it's wide enough to fit both of the motors in... i like the idea of fleas because they are cute and they are cool. hopefully building a fleaweight will make building antweights seem easy!
Daniel Jackson.

Team Hectic.

Many antweights

Super antweights: territorial.

Fleaweights: fleadom fighter, gaztons.

Featherweights: hectic (under construction)
Hogi
Posts: 1002
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:47 pm
Location: basingstoke

Re: team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Hogi »

so i've cut a 2mm base. i've ordered a sheet of 1mm HDPE for the sides, top and back pannels. i think i'll make the ramp outof 2mm though as it's the pannel that is most likely to contact a spinner. sound like a plan?
Daniel Jackson.

Team Hectic.

Many antweights

Super antweights: territorial.

Fleaweights: fleadom fighter, gaztons.

Featherweights: hectic (under construction)
Remote-Controlled Dave
Posts: 3716
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:30 pm
Location: Antrim, Northern Ireland
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Re: team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

2mm might be a bit heavy but you can try. I built my latest entirely out of 1mm and its only just in the 75g limit.
Die Gracefully Robotics
Winner - AWS 39
Hogi
Posts: 1002
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 6:47 pm
Location: basingstoke

Re: team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Hogi »

thanks Dave. maybe i'll just cut it all out of 1mm and leave the rest of my 2mm for building future ant projects out of.
Daniel Jackson.

Team Hectic.

Many antweights

Super antweights: territorial.

Fleaweights: fleadom fighter, gaztons.

Featherweights: hectic (under construction)
Rapidrory
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:54 pm

Re: team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Rapidrory »

I use 1mm poly for Haggis. Bear in mind that the electronics for haggis, without the battery or servo, weighs in at about 30 grams. So including the battery, that brings it up to about 40, giving you about 35 grams of chassis and weapon to play with... This'll obviously vary, but should provide a rough estimate...
Rory Mangles - Team Nuts

Robots: Nuts 2 and many more...

NanoTwo Motor Controllers: https://nutsandbots.co.uk/product/nanotwodualesc
Rapidrory
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:54 pm

Re: team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Rapidrory »

Another thing you'll need to check is normally, standard antweight motors are too long to put in the usual 2wd pusher configuration, hence why both nuts and haggis have the motors side by side. I'll check tomorrow evening, but I think my standard ant kits are just slightly too wide to make a 2wd flea pusher from. May be able to fit in the cube diagonally though...
Rory Mangles - Team Nuts

Robots: Nuts 2 and many more...

NanoTwo Motor Controllers: https://nutsandbots.co.uk/product/nanotwodualesc
Remote-Controlled Dave
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Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:30 pm
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Re: team hectic fleaweight build diary.

Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

I get 'em in, but they do have to be very close together, and mostly use the diagonal.
Die Gracefully Robotics
Winner - AWS 39
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