Ages ago Harry very kindly gave me some 12mm gearmotors and a sabretooth speedo, because he's a nice guy like that, and I've had them on my desk ever since. I recently invested in a mini lathe, and in searching for things to do ahead of getting stuck into a new feather build, I thought I'd make an ant or two. As a result of buying the lathe I'm now very short on money, so I may not be completing any ants any time soon, but I can certainly make a frame or two.
To get used to working on this scale (my stock of bolts stops at m4!) I'm building a simple pushbot. Only two motors, at that, because due to not really having thin enough raw materials, I doubt I can get four motors in weight. To make it a little less boxy, I am using an old set of Lego scale tracks for drive. They're actually a bit small, but will do for a first attempt.
Unlike other builds which have been entirely CADded before starting, I'm just planning this as I go, so I really don't know what it will look like. All I know is, tracks, wedge, and white HDPE.
I started with making the pulleys for the tracks. The driving ones are aluminium, the idlers are hdpe, which ride on little alu hubs:
Today I made some progress on the frame. The materials are 10mm and 6mm hdpe (leftovers from other builds):
Will update as I make more. Thanks for reading.