New Robots
Moderators: BeligerAnt, petec, administrator
Don't worry, it will be nothing like anteater when it is finished so you haven't got anything to worry about 

Mike - Bobblebot.co.uk
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- Posts: 308
- Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2003 12:00 am
- Location: Netherlands
Well today I got all the wiring done for Void 3.0, and tested it out, and it seems that I'm going to have to run it on 2 lipos instead of the 3 I'd planned on. Despite sd200's being able to survive on 3 lipos, they jitter constantly, the motors actually seem to go slightly slower, and they are uncontrollable, not to mention the boards got extremely hot within a few seconds, and that was without even having a gearbox on the motor, or anything actually putting pressure on the motor. However I'm still going to use the same wiring, but just use 2 lipos aswell, so the servos will still be running on the full voltage of 2 lipos rather than 6v as before, meaning I will still get a slight boost in performance. Also, the servo I was using for my flipper (Park HPX F) started smoking seconds after I flicked the switch, upon closer inspection I realised one of the components on the board has a crack line down it, which the smoke was pouring from, and as this was not there before I can only assume it was made by the heat and the components inability to take 3 lipos worth of voltage.
My desire is still to be able to run it on 3 lipos, so I might look into some proper speed controllers for the motors (such as SozBots ones) rather than the origional servo control boards. Not in time for reading though I'm afraid. If I can find things suitable, I'm hoping to have it running on full power by AWS14.
Edit: well I've had a quick look around and the problem to me seems to be all these boards are just slightly too big (packed with features I don't need really, like invert input, and components that can supply a lot more ampage than I'll need), the other trouble is they all have a 3rd channel for a weapon, but it is always just a single direction speed control for a spinner. Does anyone know of smaller dual speed control boards, or boards that have a third channel thats bi-directional? Or better still, does anyone know any companies or people that would manufacture custom electronics of this size (for a price, of course)?
Any help is appreciated.
_________________
Scott Fyfe-Jamieson, Captain of Team Ultimatum
http://www.teamultimatum.tk
administrator of the http://www.antweight.com forums.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: EpicentrE on 2004-06-01 17:42 ]</font>
My desire is still to be able to run it on 3 lipos, so I might look into some proper speed controllers for the motors (such as SozBots ones) rather than the origional servo control boards. Not in time for reading though I'm afraid. If I can find things suitable, I'm hoping to have it running on full power by AWS14.
Edit: well I've had a quick look around and the problem to me seems to be all these boards are just slightly too big (packed with features I don't need really, like invert input, and components that can supply a lot more ampage than I'll need), the other trouble is they all have a 3rd channel for a weapon, but it is always just a single direction speed control for a spinner. Does anyone know of smaller dual speed control boards, or boards that have a third channel thats bi-directional? Or better still, does anyone know any companies or people that would manufacture custom electronics of this size (for a price, of course)?
Any help is appreciated.
_________________
Scott Fyfe-Jamieson, Captain of Team Ultimatum
http://www.teamultimatum.tk
administrator of the http://www.antweight.com forums.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: EpicentrE on 2004-06-01 17:42 ]</font>
- BeligerAnt
- Posts: 1872
- Joined: Wed May 15, 2002 12:00 am
- Location: Brighton
- Contact:
Hi Scott
For custom design and manufacture you need deep pockets! I know contract rates are around ?30/hour.
Fortunately I have been looking into speed controllers but never got round to much past the paper design stage. However, I do have a plan and some parts to play with, now all I need is some time!
If it works this will be a Team BeligerAnt Public Domain design. I have a personal philosophy of putting all my "hobby" designs into the public domain to help other people as I rely on plenty of other good people providing me with ideas, software etc at no charge.
Basically the idea is to use a micro servo board (run @ 5V) to drive a bigger, more powerful H-bridge to drive the motor. A bit like adding a huge power amplifier to your car stereo. You still get all the original features, but you can drive bigger speakers (motors)
The FETs I have at the moment are rated for 5A continuous. Bigger ones with higher ratings are available, but I want to prove the principle and keep the size/weight down.
I have an arena to paint and RONNY to rebuild before next weekend, so I can't promise anything in time for Reading. If I do get time I'll try to bring something along. Definitely come & talk to me about it though!
BTW, I'm not generally interesting in building/selling this sort of thing to all & sundry (I just don't have the time).
For custom design and manufacture you need deep pockets! I know contract rates are around ?30/hour.
Fortunately I have been looking into speed controllers but never got round to much past the paper design stage. However, I do have a plan and some parts to play with, now all I need is some time!
If it works this will be a Team BeligerAnt Public Domain design. I have a personal philosophy of putting all my "hobby" designs into the public domain to help other people as I rely on plenty of other good people providing me with ideas, software etc at no charge.
Basically the idea is to use a micro servo board (run @ 5V) to drive a bigger, more powerful H-bridge to drive the motor. A bit like adding a huge power amplifier to your car stereo. You still get all the original features, but you can drive bigger speakers (motors)

The FETs I have at the moment are rated for 5A continuous. Bigger ones with higher ratings are available, but I want to prove the principle and keep the size/weight down.
I have an arena to paint and RONNY to rebuild before next weekend, so I can't promise anything in time for Reading. If I do get time I'll try to bring something along. Definitely come & talk to me about it though!
BTW, I'm not generally interesting in building/selling this sort of thing to all & sundry (I just don't have the time).
Gary, Team BeligerAnt
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- Posts: 1
- Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:00 am
- Contact:
i now this maight sound like im begging but id love to start buliding a robot. im 15 and alway wantid to try but i thart who am i kiding then i saw ant bot. i coued build them but i ent got anoth money to build one. im from a poor familly. if any one has any spare part id be grafull if i coued have them if you coued e-mail me at ajsinnott@aol.com
- peterwaller
- Posts: 3213
- Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2002 12:00 am
- Location: Aylesbury Bucks
- Contact:
I now have a workshop set up at the new house and completed the new ANTicyclone yesterday. It now sports a brushless motor which while not being very fast seems to be very powerful (96 Watts) and gets a 88mm blade up to speed in a second or two. Also being a short motor the disc can be mounted so it is low even when inverted.